The Wee Free Men audiobook

It would have been extremely cool if Pratchett would have honored more countries by making fun of their stereotypes and traditions, but so at least the Scots can feel really happy about having been made immortal by him. Of course, this is to take with a grain of rice, because some of the exaggerations might seem, directly compared to reality, discriminating, but hey, that´s what satire is for. Different than the old worksThe late Pratchetts´children´s and YA books are very different from the original Discworld series, I would call it a completely other kind of writing, melancholic, less dealing with meta criticism, using a modified tone to be best for the new audience he decided to explore worlds with. Easier to readThese stylistic decisions make it somewhat easier to digest, by minimizing the postmodernist sophisticated satire approach, it has a kind of ease and levity the original Discworld couldn´t deliver, because one had to expect a hidden innuendo or actual heavier plot action behind each corner. Not to talk about the feeling of awe the general Discworld leaves after having finished one more masterpiece, the realization of the fact that a comedic fantasy author owned the whole society. Again Preparation for the real DiscworldThese facts make it something for everyone, a great preparation for kids and teens to later enter the highly complex Discworld and a vacation for Discworld fans who once want to have something that isn´t that high brow that one has to think about while reading, to be able to enjoy Pratchett just for the fun of it, without this annoying becoming a better, wiser person. MelancholyThe Tiffany Aching novels are part of the best coming of age, leaving childhood, finding destination novels ever written, something Pratchett may have seen as one of the most important parts of his legacy, integrating so much wisdom and metaphors, besides the fabulous humor, that they could be seen as good versions of educational novels. Using the Nac Mac Feegles and one evil antagonist as driving plot devices enables Pratchett to focus on the lections he wants to transport, while the story still stays dynamic and suspenseful, with the witch wisdom background vibe and full frontal female frenzy.Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...This one is added to all Pratchettian reviews:https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe... The idea of the dissected motifs rocks, highlighting the main real world inspirational elements of fiction and satire is something usually done with so called higher literature, but a much more interesting field in readable literature, as it offers the joy of reading, subtle criticism, and feeling smart all together.https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleine_...

I'm a huge fan of dangerous books for boys. I love classic boys literature, whether Dumas's 'Count of Monte Cristo', Kipling's 'Jungle Book', Burroughs 'A Princess of Mars', Tolkien's 'The Hobbit', or Heinlein's juvenile fiction. I love good stories that instruct boys in being adults. I love them for being persistently politically incorrect, not just now but then. I love them because they are stories by people who obviously know boys and know what they need. And, I love them for just being fun and exciting adventure stories. They abide, despite the distaste of limp wristed educators that would rather that little boys don't read them and are horrified when boys play with pretend weapons. I see that and I see someone that hates boys, and for that matter doesn't have a particularly high opinion of girls either. Far be it from me to be a child hater who insists that little boys and girls never be messy, smelly, or wild. You can't learn bravery or wisdom if you learn nothing about risk. You can't learn to be gentle if you aren't first strong.But I don't have boys; I have two girls. That isn't to say that I don't intend to read to them all the great boy's literature, because I don't think that boys and girls are all so different as all of that. But, there just aren't a lot of dangerous books for girls. There aren't many daring books which feature female protagonists and address the question of growing up through a girl's eyes in ways that I approve of. Even Rowling's 'Harry Potter', features at its heart, a daring young man, not a daring young woman. And too much young adult literature for girls makes girls lives seem like they are all about boys and spend too little time on the other important things.So of course, if you've read this book, you can imagine my joy at finding a story which is in the model of the best boy's literature but has as its protagonist - a girl. And what a girl! If you haven't read, 'The Wee Free Men', the protagonist is young Tiffany Aching, shepherd girl and cheese maker, who you'll fall in love with by the end of the first chapter. She's little, but she is doughty!To give anything away about the plot would be unfair to the reader. The story is set on Pratchett's Discworld, but the connections are very loose and the reader gives up only a few easter eggs by not having read anything else in the series. There is no more need to read 'Lords and Ladies' or have an existing relationship with Granny Weatherwax than there is a need to read the Silmarillion before reading 'The Lord of the Rings'. So go ahead and open this story up, be you young or old, boy or girl, fan of fantasy or no; this is a treasure.I love reading to my girls, but I sometimes get anxious for the probably all too quickly coming days when I can read something to them with more meat: something which is nearer and dearer to my heart. If I could only read them two fiction books, I'd read them Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and Pratchett's 'The Wee Free Men'. It's of that stature.Some of my readers - being who they are, or knowing who I am - may wonder that I'd so recommend this tale of 'witchcraft'. Well, for one thing, there isn't a lot of actual 'witchcraft' in the craft that Pratchett teaches. The problem with the word ‘witch’ is that it means so many different things to so many different people, that it really means nothing unless you know what it is pointing to. In Pratchett's case, the word 'witch' might as well mean 'nerd', because they are essentially pointing to the same idea. But, for people that don't know that words are merely pointers, and have no meaning until they are addressed and dereferenced, or who are uncomfortable with that, let me add this addition: I'm my children's parent, not a book. There isn't anything made by man which doesn't have a something in it which isn't fully edifying. I can round off the rough corners of my children's developing understanding fairly easily. I can talk with them about what they read. I would have to do that no matter what they read, for there is nothing written in the tongues of men that can't be misunderstood. What I can't do so easily is inspire children. I can't so easily make them care and make them excited so that they know something not just in their heads but also in their hearts. For that, I need the help of stories, and this is a good one filled with many things that are virtuous and true. I'm not going to let any minor confusion get in the way of that.

Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30; Tiffany Aching, #1), Terry PratchettThe Wee Free Men is a 2003 comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, which takes place in his Discworld setting. Tiffany Aching is a 9-year-old girl who literally sees things differently from others. While playing by the river near her home, she sees two tiny blue, kilted men who warn her of a "green heid" in the water. Suddenly a vile green monster, Jenny Greenteeth, appears in the water. Using her brother Wentworth as bait, Tiffany ambushes the beast and cracks it with a frying pan, while Wentworth is completely unfazed, as he is unable to see either the little men or the monster. She goes into town to visit a travelling teacher and comes upon Miss Tick, a witch who has been watching her. Tiffany is told that these little men are the Nac Mac Feegles, who are rough and rowdy fae folk who speak with Glaswegian accents. Miss Tick informs her that she is likely the witch of the wold she resides in, and gives her the toad familiar she carries as a guide before tricking Tiffany out of the tent and disappearing.Tiffany returns home to discover that the Nac Mac Feegles are not only incredibly fast and strong, but afraid of her, as she catches them stealing eggs from under a chicken and a sheep right out of the field. When Wentworth is kidnapped by the Queen of the Fairies, Tiffany seeks out the help of the Nac Mac Feegles to rescue him, as they are the most powerful otherworldly things she knows and they're more than willing to submit to her will, terrified by one who is not only a witch but one who can read and write. Rob Anybody, and a group of other Feegles including Big Yan and Daft Wullie take her back to their home where she meets the buzzard-aviator Hamish, the bard-Feegle William, and their clan leader the Kelda. Tiffany is told that her brother has been taken by the Queen to her domain in Fairyland, and not only must she take the Feegles to go rescue him, but she must also take up the reins as Kelda, as the current one is about to die. After worming her way out of marrying Rob Anybody, Tiffany goes out of the mound to the field where the Feegles test her First Sight and Second Thoughts by letting her find the entrance to the queen's domain. ...تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز چهارم ماه فوریه سال 2021میلادیعنوان: دیسک ورلد (جهان صفحه) کتاب سی: مردان آزاد فی: نویسنده: تری پرچت؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 21مدیسک ورلد (جهان صفجه)، یک سری از کتابهای فانتزی هستند، که روانشاد «تری پرچت»، نویسنده ی «انگلیسی»، نگاشته ‌اند؛ داستان‌های این سری در جهانی با نام «دیسک‌ ورلد (جهان صفحه)» می‌گذرند؛ که صفحه‌ ای تخت است، و بر شانه‌ های چهار فیل با هیکلهای بزرگ قرار دارد؛ این فیل‌ها نیز، به نوبه ی خود بر روی پشت یک لاک‌پشت غول‌آسا، با نام «آتوئین بزرگ» قرار دارند؛ در این سری از کتابها، بارها از سوژه های کتاب‌های نویسندگانی همچون «جی.آر.آر تالکین»، «رابرت هاوارد»، «اچ پی لاوکرافت» و «ویلیام شکسپیر» به گونه ای خنده دار استفاده شده ‌است؛از سری «دیسک ‌ورلد» بیشتر از هشتاد میلیون نسخه، در سی و هفت زبان، به فروش رفته‌ است؛ این سری در برگیرنده ی بیش از چهل رمان (تاکنون چهل و یک رمان)، یازده داستان کوتاه، چهار کتاب علمی، و چندین کتاب مرجع، و مکمل است؛ از این سری، چندین رمان تصویری، بازی کامپیوتری، نمایش تئاتر، سریالهای تلویزیونی اقتباس شده ‌است؛ روزنامه ی «ساندی تایمز» چاپ «انگلستان» از این سری به عنوان یکی از پرفروش‌ترین سری کتاب‌ها نام برده، و «تری پرچت» را، به عنوان پرفروش‌ترین نویسنده ی «انگلستان»، در دهه ی نود میلادی دانسته است؛ رمان‌های «دیسک‌ورلد» جوایز بسیاری از جمله جایزه «پرومتئوس»، و مدال ادبی «کارنگی» را، از آن خود کرده ‌اند؛ در نظرسنجی «بیگ رید»، که «بی‌بی‌سی» در سال 2003میلادی، در «انگلستان» انجام داد، چهار رمان سری «دیسک‌ورلد»؛ در فهرست یکصد کتاب برتر قرار گرفتند؛ همچنین مردمان «انگلیس»، در این نظرسنجی، چهارده رمان «دیسک‌ورلد» را، در شمار دویست کتاب برتر، دانستند؛ تا کنون، از این سری، چهل و یک رمان، به چاپ رسیده است؛ «تری پرچت» که پیش از درگذشتش؛ در ابتدای سال 2015میلادی، از بیماری «آلزایمر» رنج می‌بردند، اعلام کردند که خوشحال می‌شوند که دخترشان، «ریانا پرچت»، به جای ایشان، به ادامه ی این سری بپردازند؛ جلد بیست و ششم رمان از این سری، تا رمان «دزد زمان (2001میلادی)» بدست «جاش کربی»، به تصویر کشیده شده ‌اند، اما نسخه ‌های «آمریکایی»، که انتشارات «هارپرکالینز» آن‌ها را، منتشر کرده، دارای تصاویر روی جلد متفاوتی هستند؛ پس از درگذشت «جاش کربی»، در سال 2001میلادی، نقاشی‌های روی جلد کتاب‌های بعدی این سری، بدست «پائول کربی» کشیده‌ شدنددر کتاب سی از این سری با عنوان «مردان آزاد فی»؛ «تیفانی آچینگ» دختری نه ساله است، که به معنای واقعی کلمه، چیزهایی متفاوت تر از دیگران میبیند؛ او در حالیکه در کنار رودخانه، و، در نزدیکی خانه ی خود بازی میکرد، دو مرد کوچک و کشته شده «آبی» را میبیند که به او از «سبز شدن» در آب هشدار میدهند...؛تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

“If you trust in yourself. . .and believe in your dreams. . .and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”Pure Pratchett, an ageless story with universal appeal to both children and adults. This is one of the most serious stories of Discworld, as Terry Pratchett knew perfectly well that if you write to and about children, you have to be serious, otherwise it won't work.I wish I could have been like Tiffany Aching as a child: unafraid with First Sight (to see what is really there) and Second Thoughts (thinking about what you are thinking) and lots of common sense. Hell, as an adult, I still want to be Tiffany. Well, First Sight does not work all the time, though I am getting better at Second Thoughts (and Third).I don't have a daughter, I have a small son, nevertheless I hope we will read this book (and others of the Discworld series) together one day to remind me and show him that: - you don't need to own and brandish a sword to be a hero: sometimes a firm grip on a frying pan and on facts suffices- it takes courage to accept and to be yourself, but it's worth it- just because you are not a prince/princess, it does not mean that you don't have your own story- that you have to go and question stories and not take them at face value. “Them as can do has to do for them as can't. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.” “It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works.”

Le tengo cariño a casi todas las brujas, para qué mentir. Pero Tiff me ha robado el corazón.

Tiffany Aching, aged nine, is the only member of her large family with a jot of curiosity about the outside world. For generations without counting, the Achings (also spelled Aikens, Archens, or Akins) have tended sheep in the Discworld backwater known as the Chalk. Nothing interesting has happened in the Chalk for all of recorded history. But that's about to change. A parasitic fae world, made of selfish magic and dream fragments, is connecting to the Chalk. Monsters not seen in centuries are dropping up in fields and rivers. Tiffany is the only human aware of them, and thus the only defense against them.So when Tiffany's perpetually sticky, candy-obsessed toddler brother, Wentworth, is left unattended for a few minutes and abducted by the cruel and selfish Faerie Queen (pronounced "Quin" by most of our cast) only Tiffany can save him. She finds allies in the Nac Mac Feegle - a cheerfully violent tribe of six-inch-high, blue-skinned brigands with thick Scottish burrs - and a talking toad (view spoiler)[who was once a human lawyer. (hide spoiler)] She enters Faerie armed with nothing but an iron skillet. Sam Gamgee and Rapunzel approve.Content AdvisoryViolence: The Feegles will attack anything, including but not limited to faerie queens, sharks, sheep, giant squid, whiny twelve-year-old boys, housecats, and each other. This is always played for laughs. There is no actual death or gore shown.There's an unsettling flashback of the Chalk people burning down the house of an elderly suspected witch and killing her cat.Sex: Tiffany's older sisters enjoy springtime on the farm because they get to watch the young men working with their shirts off. Tiffany is baffled. She's equally baffled by her uncle's fondness for a chewing tobacco logo that features a nude female figure if you look at it from a certain angle.When Tiffany is declared temporary kelda (matriarch) of the local Feegles, she fears that she'll have to marry their chief, Rob Anybody (yes, that's his real name), as dictated by tradition. He's just as scared as she is, due to the considerable difference in age and size. They figure a way out of it, don't worry!Language: The Feegles' favorite word is "crivens!" , a fairly obvious euphemism.Substance Abuse: The Wee Free Men are always hammered and proud of it. Tiffany bribes them with something called Special Sheep Linament, which is said to put hair on one 's chest. All the adults in Tiffany's family chew tobacco.Nightmare Fuel: Literal. In Faerie live blobby, faceless creatures called dromes, who absorb human thoughts and build dreams from them. Usually the human gets trapped in the dream and starves, while the drome drains the life from them.The Quin is a shapeshifter with no settled form. At one point Tiffany notices that her enemy's eyes "don't move as if she sees through them" *shudders*Politics and Religion: Pratchett's suspicion of religion is not manifest in this book but occasionally crops up later in the series. While the word "witch" is frequently used, the witches in this universe have little in common with real-world witches, or even Harry Potter witches. The trappings we associate with witches - incantations, potions, summoning of spirits - are almost nonexistent here. This is just a group of women who do the right thing because somebody has to. Their main goal is keeping the peace and protecting the powerless, and unlike many fictional witches, they don't hate men. In the case of Nanny Ogg, they really, really...don't hate men. ConclusionThe Wee Free Men was my introduction to Pratchett and Discworld, but despite being his fortieth book set there it was easy to jump in. It does owe a bit to the great older-kid/YA adventure stories that came before, particularly Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, The Snow Queen, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, A Wrinkle in Time, and Labyrinth. But these similarities are in the bones of the story, not displayed on its facade. The imagery is often familiar, but the tale itself has a unique viewpoint and message. For instance, if you put all the villains of the aforementioned stories in a police lineup, the Quin would stand out. She's not a bellowing dullard like the Queen of Hearts, nor is she consumed with hubris and power-lust like Jadis. She's much more personal than IT (L'Engle's mutant disembodied brain, not King's demon clown) and much smarter than Smaug, who has the mind of a worm after all. As for Jareth, he's an antihero, not a villain, and has a human emotional life beyond the capabilities of someone like the Quin. If anything she's a more active Snow Queen, a shallow malignant force who feeds on discouragement and falsehood.Tiffany wins by being grounded in her home soil. Unlike the majority of the protagonists on the influence list, she does not come from money. She's grown up among life and death and beauty and decay as only a farm kid can. She wants to travel and learn, but she's no Belle looking down her nose at the other villagers either. Tiffany is probably better adjusted than most adults.And those crazy Feegles. My imagination would be a sad place without their brainless bravery , huge hearts, eternal loyalty, and love of kebabs. I am happy to report that there are four more books about Tiffany and Co. A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight are just as good as this one, albeit darker. I haven't read The Shepherd's Crown yet.This book is recommended for everyone 14 and up, but especially if you need a break from mainstream YA melodrama and/or books that idolize the Fey Folk.

This might be the best YA book I've ever read.Need I say more?Everyone knows how charming Terry Pratchett can be and his humor was always top notch. But what people generally overlook is the wisdom. First Sight, Second Think. That's the main thing about being a witch or even being a bit bright. See things as they are and never settle for your first think. Hello!I love Tiffany. Harder than the earth, handy with string and a big pan. And she demands respect. :)

"So... Roland with the beefy face was the hero, was he? And she was just like the stupid princess who broke her ankle and fainted all the time? That was completely unfair!"[First read: 2nd June, 2013: 3 stars.Second read: 17th July, 2018. 4 stars.]You know when you finish a book and it gives you that warm fuzzy feeling and makes you smile-not too wide, not a stupid grin-just a lovely little expression you give yourself, as if you're remembering a joke or something nice that happened to you once?I live for books that give those moments."But that time it had been magic. And it didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done."Tiffany Aching is nine years old, and whilst I think that's a tiny bit young to be believable-but then I don't know many nine year old girls, only stupid boys-she does have a good adult brain in her head, it's just the rest of her body needs to catch up. She lives in soft chalk, but it's hers and it's what she knows. You can't teach experience, after all.Discworld for children makes me slightly nervous. (If you think this is YA you can leave this review right now.) It's always grand-as is anything PTerry writes-but it always seems to have the edge taken off it very slightly. The big issues are always there and there are hints of rudeness which, despite myself, I love, but the wonderful, razor sharp edge isn't always quite there.With Tiffany Aching, and only through a re-read on hot summer days and nights, I got over that slightly. The story line is pretty much typical Discworld: fairies gone rogue, witches saving the world but not getting the thanks they deserve, people being people which includes being horrible but also nice, and the very important fact that Thinking Is Best, and the writing is as superb as ever.It's the Thinking Is Best part of this book that made me, er, think. Messy, but you get what I mean. It's logical and reflects my world view more than most people do. Staring at beautiful flowers is all very well, but the world goes on. Things happen, the world goes on. Things need to be done."No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and see it all as it really is... no one could stand that for long."There is little to say against this book, except it didn't give me five-star feeling. Stupid to say, since it gave me the warm fuzzy feeling and the little grin to myself, but it had moments of... childishness, I think. The Wee Free Men are great, but maybe a little too Scottish sometimes. Small elements of the plot didn't work for me, but they added to the overall atmosphere anyway.But the most important thing here is that Tiffany Aching is one of the best female characters you can find in any book anywhere. Granny Weatherwax is the epitome, but since she only had a small cameo-fantastic as it was-it barely counts. PTerry can write women so well, it baffles me that no-one cares all that much. It's a great celebration of a young girl finding who she is, and actually accepting her own flaws but trying to find the good in them."Yes," said a voice, and Tiffany realised that it was hers again. The anger rose up joyfully. "Yes! I'm me! I am careful and logical and I look up things I don't understand! When I hear people use the wrong words I get edgy! I am good with cheese. I read books fast! I think! And I always have a piece of string! That's the kind of person I am!"And she didn't fall in love once! Not once. She's 9, for crying out loud.

"Tiffany Aching was lying on her stomach by the river, tickling trout. She liked to hear them laugh. It came up in bubbles." pg 5, ebook.With those three sentences, Terry Pratchett introduces readers to one of the most beloved characters from his Discworld series, Tiffany Aching.Young Tiffany lives in sheep raising country, where chalk from an ancient sea lies beneath the ground. When an otherworldly creature bursts out of a creek and tries to pull her and her little brother Wentworth beneath its waters, Tiffany fights back.It is the beginning of a life or death struggle with monsters from worlds beyond Discworld, though Tiffany does not know it at the time.But luckily for her, there are allies who will join her in this fight- the Wee Free Men."In the reeds, quite low down, small voices whispered: "Crivens, Wee Bobby, did yer no' see that?" "Aye, we'd better offski an' tell the Big Man we've found the hag." pg 10Pratchett weaves this coming of age story with humor and magic. He utilizes the best themes of the Witches Discworld subseries to do so.Tiffany discovers headology, the importance of belief and appearances, and her own mysterious connection to a witch legacy that was hiding in plain sight in the hills.The pacing of the tale is quick, racing from one danger to the next, and perfect for young adults or reluctant readers who enjoy fantasy.In addition, Pratchett uses a real life painting in the story which adds another layer of 'fairy magic' to the telling. The artwork is "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" by Richard Dadd and you can see it here: https://bit.ly/3tW58bbThe surreal painting captures the unsettling feel of the creatures and worlds Pratchett so deftly describes. It is also whimsical, but hints at the danger lurking in the shadows.For the past few weeks, I have been doing a read-through of the Discworld Witches series and really disliked the last one, Maskerade. I felt like the witches' character flaws were beginning to dominate the story, which was draining its humor and heart away.The Wee Free Men brings magic and heart back into the equation. In Tiffany, readers discover a brave young girl who wants to do the right thing but doesn't have any one to show her the way. We know her mentors will show up eventually, but until then, she and the wee free men need to figure things out on their own.And how they do that is a very good story. Highly recommended.

¡Qué bien me lo he pasado leyéndolo!Con la primera mitad me he reído muchísimo. Creo que nunca me había reído tanto con un libro. Pero con la segunda mitad las risas bajan, y me ha gustado menos. Pero aún así es un buen libro de aventuras.Los pequeños hombres libres me han encantado, y Tiffany es genial, es valiente, fuerte, inteligente...Es el libro de este autor que más me ha gustado, aunque solo es el tercero que leo xD.