Time for a quick quiz: What do all of these popular stories have in common?
The Little Mermaid (a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, several film renditions, and inspiration for numerous retellings such as Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon, in which a young mermaid leaves the sea and lands in a prince’s court)
• (the Christmas film starring Will Ferrell, in which Buddy the Elf discovers he’s actually human and leaves the North Pole to go to New York City to meet his father)• (film starring Reese Witherspoon, in which a ditzy sorority girl goes to Harvard Law School)• (popular novel and series by Diana Gabaldon, in which a World War II nurse time-travels to 18–century Scotland; inspiration for television series and even a musical)• (novel by Douglas Adams, in which a former earthling travels the universe)• “Schitt’s Creek” (television series, in which a rich family loses everything and moves to a remote, down-to-earth town)
