Swan Lake
10 best books like Swan Lake (Mark Helprin): Imagine: How Creativity Works, Beauty and the Beast, The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss, An Object of Beauty, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, The Secret Lives of Princesses, Chopsticks, Amphigorey, Extra Yarn
Imagine: How Creativity Works
| Author | Jonah Lehrer |
| ISBN | 0547386079 |
Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?
From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the...
| Author | Marianna Mayer |
| ISBN | 1587171481 |
I learned about this book from a good friend's blog and went straight to Amazon to find a used copy. Much to my delight, it looks to be a first edition from 1978 (although I'm not sure how many editions there are). The cover was in horrible condition when it arrived as it was falling to pieces. I...
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
| Author | Edmund de Waal |
| ISBN | 0374105979 |
The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost the only thing remaining of their vast empire was a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings, none...
| Author | Steve Martin |
| ISBN | 0446573647 |
Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the NYC art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension...
| Author | Kinuko Y. Craft |
| ISBN | 1587170051 |
This brilliant edition of a timeless story is sure to become the favorite of a generation. Readers young and old will be enchanted by the vision and mastery of Kinuko Y. Craft's luminous paintings, inspired by the lavish artwork of late seventeenth-century France and embellished with extraordinary...
| Author | Trina Schart Hyman |
| ISBN | 0316387029 |
The story of the beautiful princess who sleeps for a hundred years has captured the imaginations of children for an even longer period of time. How could everyone in a castle - even the flies on the walls - sleep for a century and then wake up?
This magical, beautifully illustrated tale begins...
The Secret Lives of Princesses
| Author | Philippe Lechermeier |
| ISBN | 1402766777 |
Go beyond Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! Some princesses are well-known to all children—but others, equally magical (and sometimes, a lot funnier) have remained anonymous, mysterious, and far from the fairy-tale crowd.
Now these captivating ladies are finally stepping out of the...
| Author | Jessica Anthony |
| ISBN | 1595144358 |
After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As we flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, we...
| Author | Edward Gorey |
| ISBN | 0399504338 |
The title of this deliciously creepy collection of Gorey's work stems from the word amphigory, meaning a nonsense verse or composition. As always, Gorey's painstakingly cross-hatched pen and ink drawings are perfectly suited to his oddball verse and prose. The first book of 15, "The Unstrung Harp,"...
| Author | Mac Barnett |
| ISBN | 0061953385 |
Annabelle finds a magic yarn box that never runs out of yarn. She lives in a drab little town where everyone is drab looking. She makes herself a sweater and it isn’t long before she makes a sweater for everyone. She still has plenty of yarn. Word gets out and people come wanting to see these wonders, even...
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales
| Author | Chris Van Allsburg |
| ISBN | 0547548109 |
Who is Harris Burdick?
For more than twenty-five years, readers have been puzzling over the illustrations by this enigmatic artist. Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with his intriguingly titled pictures. And now, some of our most imaginative storytellers...
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
| Author | Candace Fleming |
| ISBN | 0375841989 |
From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum—as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin's Almanac—comes the thrilling story of America's most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart.
In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia's...
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
| Author | Austin Kleon |
| ISBN | 0761169253 |
You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and...
The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?
| Author | Seth Godin |
| ISBN | 1591846072 |
In Seth Godin’s most inspiring book yet, he challenges readers to find the courage to treat their work as a form of art. Everyone knows that Icarus’s father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun. But he ignored that warning and plunged to his doom. We’ve retold this myth, and...
| Author | Kelly Bingham |
| ISBN | 0060799846 |
The first time I read this, I laughed out loud -- and I was staffing the library's reference desk at the time. But it takes a pretty clever story to make this librarian laugh a big ol' belly laugh, and this one is clever with a capital C. Observant readers will notice that the story actually starts before the...
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
| Author | Twyla Tharp |
| ISBN | 0743235274 |
Creativity is not a gift from the gods, says Twyla Tharp, bestowed by some divine and mystical spark. It is the product of preparation and effort, and it's within reach of everyone who wants to achieve it. All it takes is the willingness to make creativity a habit, an integral part of your life: In order...
"Russo Morin skillfully blends historical fiction and fantasy in surprising ways. She draws effortlessly upon influences ranging from Dante to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the authority of her presentation makes the world she’s created come alive. A wonderfully action-packed ride through the...
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum
| Author | Keri Smith |
| ISBN | 0399534601 |
From the author of Wreck This Journal, an interactive guide for exploring and documenting the art and science of everyday life.
Artists and scientists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. In this...
| Author | Mercer Mayer |
| ISBN | 0027653404 |
This version of the story has some interesting and different details. For one thing, the wicked fairy appears 3 times during the story, not just once. Some of the fairies have names, with the wicked fairy being the Blue Fairy, and the fairy who softens her curses being the Star Fairy. The first curse of...
| Author | John Marsden |
| ISBN | 0968876889 |
The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan is a book about environmental issues created by man.
After reading The Arrival we quickly became hooked on Shaun Tan's draftmanship. It's amazing how a book with very few words and mainly illustrations can send such a powerful message that will leave...
| Author | Miranda July |
| ISBN | 1936365014 |
In the summer of 2009, Miranda July was struggling to finish writing the screenplay for her much-anticipated second film. During her increasingly long lunch breaks, she began to obsessively read the PennySaver, the iconic classifieds booklet that reached everywhere and seemed to come from nowhere....
