February 26th is “Tell a fairy tale” day so I thought I would highlight some classic fairy tales, retellings, and new fairy tales. Enjoy these retellings of well-known and new fairy tales available at the Chatham Area Public Library.
These adult books are dark and twisted. The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin catches up with Cinderella thirteen years and two children after ‘happily ever after.’ However, things are far from happy. One night, fed up, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. The Turnip Princess by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth has over seventy dark new fairy tales. In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed the forests and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth's work was lost—until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manuscripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive. This English translation includes many unheard fairy tales. These also include plenty where women are their own saviors and more than just damsels in distress. A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham is a book of fairy tales for our times. Reimagined by a Pulitzer Prize winning author and exquisitely illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, rarely have our bedtime stories been this dark, this perverse, or this true.
Young Adult books have fairy tale retellings in abundance. These are some newer ones that are worth checking out. Lore by Alexandra Bracken is more of a mythology retelling rather than a fairy tale. Every seven years there is a hunt, offering mortal descendants of gods the opportunity to claim their divinity by killing any of nine immortals made mortal for one night. Lore Perseous has no desire to participate in the Agon, embittered because her family was killed by a rival who then ascended to godhood. When a childhood friend asks her to help, and a wounded god offers an alliance, Lore overlooks the steep cost of this decision in exchange for vengeance. In Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron, Cinderella has been dead for 200 years. Now teen girls are required to appear at the annual ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives. Sixteen-year-old Sophia wants to marry her best friend Erin. She escapes from the ball and ends up in Cinderella's mausoleum. There she meets Constance, the last known descendent of Cinderella. Together, they vow to bring down the king once and for all. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is a modern adaptation of the German fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" by the Brothers Grimm set during the Jewish Holocaust and World War II. Grandmother Gemma always told the story of Briar Rose, and after she dies, her granddaughter discovers that Gemma was a real-life Sleeping Beauty - a Holocaust survivor.
These children’s books are fun new takes on well-known stories. Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer is a collection of short poems which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature. Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim is a retelling of Goldilocks and the three bears. One Chinese New Year, her mother sends Goldy Luck to the pandas next door with a plate of turnip cakes, but the pandas are out and disaster follows. A recipe for turnip cakes and an explanation of Chinese New Year are included. The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin is an Algonquin Indian version of the Cinderella story. The Rough-Face Girl and her two beautiful but heartless sisters compete for the affections of the Invisible Being.
These and many more are available at the Chatham Area Public Library ready to be read on “Tell a fairy tale” day, or any other day!