The Guardians of Childhood

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"Of course you know the Guardians. You've known them since before you could remember..."

A series of books by William Joyce (writer and production designer behind Meet the Robinsons, Robots and Rolie Polie Olie), The Guardians of Childhood tells a sweeping tale of the ongoing battle between Pitch, lord of nightmares, and the titular guardians, consisting of figures such as the Man in the Moon, Nicolas St. North, the Tooth Fairy, Bunnymund the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, Mother Goose, and Jack Frost.

A film adaptation by Dreamworks Animation, Rise of the Guardians, was released in November 2012.

Books so far (out of a planned 12) include:

• Picture Books
  • The Man in the Moon
  • The Sandman: The Story of Sanderson ManSnoozy (October 2012)
• Novels
  • Nicolas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King
  • E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!
  • The Discovery of Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (October 2012)

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Tropes used in The Guardians of Childhood include:

• Audience Surrogate: Katherine (the future Mother Goose) in the novel series, Jack Frost for the movie.
• Badass Santa: Nicolas St. North, a former outlaw good with a sword and capable of Atlantean magic.
• Big Bad: Pitch, the Nightmare King.
• Big Good: The Man in the Moon.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Abominable Snowmen are among the allies of the Guardians.
• Cool Ship: The Moon Clipper.
• Christmas Elves: Though they only test the toys, the Yetis do most of the toy construction and heavy lifting.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The source of some of the Guardians magic and power.
• Do-Anything Robot: North's Djinni Robot, created to accomplish any possible task in the real world.
• Fallen Hero: Pitch. Before he was the Nightmare King, he was the guard of the prison where all the evils of the universe were locked up.
• The Heartless: Fearlings.
• Hidden Elf Village: The village of Santoff Clausen, hidden away from the world to keep out thieves desiring riches.
• Husky Russkie: North.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Young North in the novel series.
• Lady of War: Toothiana
• Last of His Kind: Bunnymund is the last of the Pookas, a league of seven foot tall, philosophical warrior rabbits.
• Literary Agent Hypothesis: Joyce uses the story of having found old records of the Man in the Moon hidden away on the land that became his family ranch providing material for him and his staff at Moonbot Studios to work with.
• Me's a Crowd: Toothiana can split into smaller copies of herself, which allows her to actually pull off tooth fairy duties nightly.
• Parental Abandonment: The Man in the Moon lost his parents at an early age, though the family robots and creatures helped raise MiM to adulthood.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: North and Bunnymund.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Toothiana the Tooth Fairy Queen
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Pitch, for a time.
• Scenery Porn: As expected from Joyce's designs.
• Space Is an Ocean
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Animal languages are among the lessons Ombric teaches to the people of Santoff Clausen.
• Weird Moon: A broken down spaceship. Hence the name of the Man in the Moon.