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Fairy Tales

The Cabinet of Wonders

in

By Marie Rutkoski

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Petra Kronos has a simple, happy life. But it's never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. He has been commissioned by the prince of Bohemia to build the world's finest astronomical clock. Petra's life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home - blind. The prince has stolen his eyes, enchanted them, and now wears them. But why? Petra doesn't know, but she knows this: she will go to Prague, sneak into Salamander Castle, and steal her father's eyes back. Joining forces with Neel, whose fingers extend into invisible ghosts that pick locks and pockets, Petra finds that many people in the castle are not what they seem, and that her father's clock has powers capable of destroying their world.
First of a series.

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Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse

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By Marilyn Singer

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Fairy tales, retold in poetry, are literally turned on their heads. First, read the poems forward (how old-fashioned!), then reverse the lines and read them again, giving familiar tales a delicious new spin.
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Once Upon a Time with Charles Perrault

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 09:56 | Virginia Johnson
in
Charles Perrault

"As soon as he entered the wood all those great trees, and the interlaced brambles and thorns, separated to let him pass. He walked towards the castle, which he could see at the end of a great avenue. He was surprised that none of his companions had been able to follow him, since the trees had closed in again as soon as he had passed. But he did not falter. A young prince in love is always brave."

Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella. Puss in Boots. Little Red Riding Hood.
These enduring stories were created as we know them by a brilliant man who lived in 17th-century France. Although similar, but simpler stories were gathered more directly by the folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century, it was Charles Perrault's addition of delicate and amusing words, crafted to entrance a noble audience, that caught fire with readers' imaginations and were the basis for the way these stories are remembered today. It is easy to see the difference between a story collected by Grimm and a tale sculpted by Perrault. A Grimm tale is simple and direct and sometimes alarming while Perrault's are laced with details that still fire modern imaginations.

A Tale Dark and Grimm

in

By Adam Gidwitz

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Hansel and Gretel did a lot more than just stuff themselves full of candy. Enter a morbid world of macabre and horror where courage is necessary and "happily ever after" is a long ways away.
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The Princess and the Pea

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By Rachel Isadora

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A simplified version of the tale in which a girl proves that she is a real princess by feeling a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty featherbeds. This version of the Hans Christian Anderson tale is set in Africa. JE Fic Isa Suggested for Ages 3-5
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The Truth About Princesses

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By Nancy Kelly Allen; Illustrated by Youngsun Kim

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Learn the facts about favorite princesses from near and far, from what they look like to how they behave. Princesses from many well known fairy tales make appearances in this easy to read non-fiction book. JNF 398.2 Al Suggested for ages 4-8.
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Entwined by Heather Dixon

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 05:41 | Shanea Goldizen
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Entwined, by Heather Dixon

Entwined, by Heather Dixon, is a new take on the fairytale of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” The twelve sisters live in the kingdom of Eathesbury where their father the king rules with a firm and practical hand. Their mother loves to dance, and her joy and optimism are passed down to her eldest daughter, Azalea. On the eve of her death, their mother makes Azalea promise upon a silver handkerchief that she will take care of her sisters; and Azalea does just that, with the fulfillment of her promise being enforced by the magic of the silver handkerchief.

Can you See What I See? Once Upon a Time

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By Walter Wick

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Little Red Riding Hood -- Sleeping Beauty -- Hansel & Gretel -- Beauty & the Beast -- Goldilocks & the Three Bears -- Little Pigs -- The Little Mermaid -- Rumpelstiltskin -- Puss in Boots -- Aladdin & the wonderful lamp -- Cinderella -- Ever after. Suggested for ages 4-8. JE Wic
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Fairy Tales Find New Life

Tue, 03/15/2011 - 01:00 | Rebecca Purdy
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Beastly

You’re never too old for fairy tales! As proof, “Beastly” and “Red Riding Hood,” two movies aimed at teens, have recently been released.” 

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Mon, 03/07/2011 - 01:00 | Wini Ashooh
in
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

When the Brothers Grimm wrote their fairy tales in Germany in the early 1800s, they were scary.  Many of them were so scary, in fact, that they were considered unsuitable for small children.  As time passed, the stories have been altered to give them wider audience appeal.  In A Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam Gidwitz has brought the scary back to Grimm.  This is not a fairy-tale book meant for small children.  The author gives fair warning periodically throughout the story that the tale is going to get gory and it does!!!