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The Wee Free Men

 
Wikipedia: The Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchett
The Discworld series
30th novel – 1st Tiffany Aching story
Nac Mac Feegle.jpg
Outline
Characters Tiffany Aching,
Nac Mac Feegle,
Granny Aching,
Miss Tick
Locations The Chalk,
Fairyland
Motifs Fantasy clichés
Publication details
Year of release 2003
Original publisher Doubleday
Hardback ISBN ISBN 0-385-60736-9
Paperback ISBN ISBN 0-552-54905-3
Other details
Awards WH Smith Teen Choice Award 2003
American Library Association's Best Book For Young Adults 2003
Parenting Book of the Year Award 2003
Center for Children's Books' Blue Ribbon
For The Wee Free, see the Free Church of Scotland.

The Wee Free Men, first published in 2003, is the second Story of The Discworld book for younger readers. Although primarily written for children this book enjoys a large adult readership. For a period before its release it was known as For Fear Of Little Men. A sequel, A Hat Full of Sky, was published in 2004, and a third book, Wintersmith was published in 2006.

While Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book for children, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents had swearing translated to rat language, in this book it is in the dialect of the Nac Mac Feegle which is taken from Scots and Scottish Gaelic.

The novel contains a scene inspired by the painting called "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", by Richard Dadd.

An illustrated edition of the novel, with pictures by Stephen Player, was published on October 2, 2008.

Contents

Plot summary

An experienced witch named Miss Tick and her toad arrive on the chalk. She feels that something is not right, so she decides to find out what's going on. She is right. The Queen of the Elves has another attempt at invading the Discworld, by stealing children and infesting dreams.

With the help of the Wee Free Men, the Nac Mac Feegle, 9-year-old Tiffany Aching finds out that her grandmother used to be the witch of the Chalklands, and that she has inherited the trade. When her baby brother is stolen, Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegle enter the elves' world to steal him back.

Film

In January 2006, it was revealed that director Sam Raimi [1] had signed up to make a movie based on this novel, from a script by Pamela Pettler, the writer of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Sony Pictures Entertainment had recently acquired the rights to the book. The producers are Josh Donen, Vince Gerardis, and Ralph Vicinanza. No other details have been released about the film adaptation. [2]

In a June 2008 interview, Pratchett said "I saw a script that I frankly thought was awful. It seemed to be Wee Free Men in name only. It had all the hallmarks of something that had been good, and then the studio had got involved. It probably won't get made." [3]

References

  1. ^ "Raimi's a Free Man, Spidey helmer signs for new flick". IGN. 10 January 2006. http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/680/680582p1.html. 
  2. ^ "Sam Raimi set to direct The Wee Free Men". 10 January 2006. http://www.paulkidby.com/news/jan2006.html. 
  3. ^ "Tough at the Top", SFX SF and Fantasy Literature Special, June 2008, Future Publishing

External links

Reading order guide
Preceded by
Night Watch
30th Discworld Novel Succeeded by
Monstrous Regiment
Preceded by
None
1st Tiffany Aching Story
Published in 2003
Succeeded by
A Hat Full of Sky

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