Looking for a specific children's book

April 2, 2007 7:10 PM

i am looking for a children's book that my friend read when she was in elementary school (5-10 years ago.) the book is about a boy and a girl who go on an adventure through a magical world and save the people from a monster. then, the girl dies, and the boy has to boil her in a pot to bring her back to life.

my friend and i are despretely searching for this book. she can remember a lot of its details: the main character lives a normal life until creatures come out from behind his stove and tell him that he needs to go on a mission in his (dead, i think) father's place. he and his friend encounter all of these magical beings, but then she dies. he somehow knows that he needs to climb up this mountain using her bones, sort of like icepicks, and then he defeats a horrible monster and saves the people. then he boils her dead body in a pot to bring her back to life.
i know the plot sounds strange, but i have been helping my friend look for this book for a long time, and any information you have about it would be much appriciated.

posted by comfortinsound to writing & language (8 comments total)

The Bald Boy Keloglan And The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

Turkish Fairy Tale....????
posted by Jenny is Crafty at 7:27 PM on April 2, 2007

Are you sure she's not mixing bits of folklore from different books? The "glass mountain" is common to many oral traditions, so is the boiling someone to bring them back to life - and often tricking the king/other authority figure to also undergo a boiling, but without the magic that rejuvenates.

"There was an enchanted princess whom no one could set free, who had not climbed the Glass Mountain whither she was banished. Then a young apprentice came to the inn; a boiled chicken was set before him for dinner, all the bones of which he carefully collected, put them in his pocket, and went towards the Glass Mountain. When he had got there he took out a little bone, stuck it in the mountain, and climbed on it, and then he stuck in one little bone after the other until he had in this way mounted almost to the top. He had only one single step more to make, but the little bone was wanting to do it with, whereupon he cut off his little finger and stuck it in the Glass Mountain, and thus attained the summit and released the princess. " Here.
posted by Liosliath at 7:33 PM on April 2, 2007

Liosliath, You are right, I was off (by a long shot)...getting my books and fairy tales mixed up!
posted by Jenny is Crafty at 7:38 PM on April 2, 2007

Any chance it was the Chronicles of Prydain?
posted by Abiezer at 12:59 AM on April 3, 2007

I'll guess The Stones are Hatching by Geraldine McCaughrean which came out in 2000.
posted by teleskiving at 4:19 AM on April 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yep, after looking inside I'm fairly confident that's it.
posted by teleskiving at 4:24 AM on April 3, 2007

That sounds like a cracking read teleskiving
posted by Abiezer at 10:29 AM on April 3, 2007

yes, it is "the stones are hatching"!! thank you so much, teleskiving!!
posted by comfortinsound at 2:05 PM on April 10, 2007