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Fractured fairy tales
This month's Recommended Reads list is filled with familiar tales - fairy tales and well-known stories - turned topsy turvy!
Everyone has heard a fairy tale before. Whether it be thanks to story books or to Disney, the tales of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and beyond are well-known and loved. Different versions of these stories have been told over time, and the originals are often quite different from what we are familiar with today. These stories are constantly evolving, and continue to do so even today, as writers put their own unique twists on familiar tales. Here, you will find a list of books that retell and rework classic fairy tales from around the world. Some are novels, an entire book dedicated to the retelling of one tale; others are anthologies, collections of various stories retold by a multitude of authors. You will even find stories that are parodies of fairy tale tropes, as well as some nonfiction that analyzes fairy tales and the genre of fantasy in which they are contained. Here, you will find the stories you thought you knew transformed into something altogether strange and wonderful, each one containing a unique bit of magic sure to enchant you.
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Sarah Durkin
Reader Advisor
Perkins Library
Retellings
Alice
by Christina Henry
DB 83501, Available as BARD Download
Alice has been locked away in a mental hospital since she was a child, plagued by dreams of tea parties and rabbits. A fire at the hospital, however, provides her the chance to escape and find out the truth of Wonderland. Some violence and some descriptions of sex. 2015.
Ash
by Malinda Lo
DB 72494, Available as BARD Download
The death of her father leaves Ash at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Seeking temporary refuge in the woods, Ash falls in love with the royal huntress Kaisa. But the dangerous fairy Sidhean has a prior claim on Ash. For senior high and older readers. 2009.
Bitter Greens
by Kate Forsyth
DB 81024, Available as BARD Download
Novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the French court. At the nunnery where she resides, she hears the hundred-year-old tale of Margherita, locked in a tower by the courtesan Selena in punishment for her father’s crime of theft. Violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2012.
From a High Tower
by Mercedes Lackey
DB 83219, Available as BARD Download
In this retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale, the heroine (here named Giselle) is bartered away by her family to a rumored witch, who eeps Giselle in a high tower. Giselle trains as an Elemental Master, leaving the tower to join a Wild West show. 2015.
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club
by Genevieve Valentine
DB 80844, BR 20700, Available as BARD Download
In the Roaring Twenties, a wealthy man keeps his twelve daughters locked in their Fifth Avenue townhouse. The girls sneak off most nights to dance in local nightclubs, until they learn their father plans to marry them all off to strangers. 2014.
Download The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, DB 80844
Download Braille, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, BR 20700
Gingerbread
by Helen Oyeyemi
DB 94113, LT 25675, Available as BARD Download
Perdita Lee grew up with her mother Harriet, making gingerbread from a recipe handed down from generations of Harriet’s family in the mysterious country of Druhástrana. When teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother’s long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet’s story. 2019.
One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling
by Hanan Al-Shaykh
DB 77131, BR 20173, Available as BARD Download
Reimagining of nineteen stories from the classic Arabic folk-tale compilation. Includes “Shahrayar and Shahrazad,” “The First Dervish,” and “The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor.” Foreword by Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica (DB 61634). Some violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2011.
Download One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling, DB 77131
Download Braille, One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling, BR 20173
Poison, Charm, Beauty
by Sarah Pinborough
DB 82295, Available as BARD Download
Three retellings of classic fairy tales for adults. In Poison, Snow White’s stepmother seeks to control her or destroy her. In Charm, a strong-willed Cinderella wants to be a princess. Beauty has Petra and her grandmother meet a prince and a huntsman in the woods. Some explicit descriptions of sex. 2015.
Snow White and the Huntsman
directed by Rupert Sanders
DVD 1032
Snow White is the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman who was dispatched to kill her. Includes the theatrical version (audio described) and the extended version (not audio described) version. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and brief sensuality. 2012.
Spinning Silver
by Naomi Novik
DB 91647, BR 22418, Available as BARD Download
When her moneylender father can no longer collect his debts, Miryem takes over and earns a reputation of being able to turn silver into gold. This draws the attention of the icy Staryk people, whose king sets her an impossible task. Luckily she finds some unexpected allies. 2018.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire
DB 55810, LT 8784, Available as BARD Download
Traces the life of the witch Elphaba from The Wizard of Oz (DB 51047), both before and after Dorothy arrives. After attending a university with her roommate Glinda, Elphaba learns that a despotic Wizard is threatening animal rights in Oz. Some explicit descriptions of sex. For senior high and older readers. 1995.
Parodies
Dealing with Dragons
by Patricia C. Wrede
DB 33457, BRC 1171, Available as BARD Download
Princess Cimorene is curious, energetic, feisty, and not at all the proper princess that her parents–the very proper king and queen–wish her to be. Determined not to marry the vapid prince that has been chosen for her, she runs away and throws herself wholeheartedly into a career as a dragon’s princess. As she fends off nosy wizards and helps out hysterical princesses, she makes a firm place for herself in the dragon world. For grades 5-9 and older readers. 1990.
The Princess Bride
by William Goldman
DB 58817, BR 20973, Available as BARD download
Buttercup, the most beautiful woman in the world, falls in love with Westley, the perfect man. Their pending romance, however, is interrupted by fate and the wicked Prince Humperdinck, ruler of Florin. This thirtieth-anniversary edition of the classic fairy tale spoof features a 2003 introduction. 1973.
Witches Abroad
by Terry Pratchett
DB 62864, BR 20960, Available as BARD Download
Fairy godmother Desiderata dies, leaving her charge in the hands of manipulative Lilith, who is determined to marry the girl to a prince. Reluctant witch foster godmothers Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick must stop Lilith before her “happy ending” destroys the kingdom. For senior high and older readers. 1991.
Anthologies
Black Heart, Ivory Bones
edited by Ellen Datlow
DB 81714, Available as BARD Download
Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling once again collect twenty original stories that visit the darker side of timeless fairy and folk tales. A lovelorn prince seeks a blessing; cursed boots punish a dancer; Goldilocks reveals all in a sordid memoir. 2000.
The Ogre’s Wife
by Ronald Koertge
DB 78545, BR 20512, Available as BARD Download
Fifty-five poems exploring the subversive side of fairy tales and fables. “The Death of Hansel” portrays Gretel as an adult. “Little Red Riding Hood: A Memoir” reflects on Red attracting the wolf. The title poem examines the internal life of a monster’s spouse. Some descriptions of sex. 2013.
The Starlit Wood
by Dominik Parisien
DB 86514, Available as BARD download
Fantasy authors reimagine eighteen classic fairy tales. Includes Daryl Gregory’s take on Hansel and Gretel, “Even the Crumbs Were Delicious.” Other authors in the collection include Seanan McGuire, Garth Nix, and Naomi Novik. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2016.
The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told
by Jean Thompson
DB 80520, BR 20644, Available as BARD Download
Eight short stories from the author of Who Do You Love (DB 69435, BR 12906), retelling classic fairytales. In the title story, a brother and sister find themselves in foster care under the dubious protection of a nasty woman. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2014.
Multicultural
The Annotated African American Folktales
edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
DB 90683, Available as BARD Download
A collection of over a hundred stories, essays, folktales, myths, and legends from African American history. Includes well-known classics, such as Brer Rabbit and Anansi, as well as lesser-known traditions. Includes information about how these tales were sometimes hijacked or misappropriated and contains numerous annotations and illustrations. Some strong language. 2018.
The Story of Hong Gildong
by Kyun Ho
DB 84662, Available as BARD Download
Thought to have originated in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, this is the tale of Hong Gildong, son of a nobleman and one of his concubines, who leaves home to join a band of outlaws. Hong continues to long for acceptance, however. Translated from the original Korean. 2016
Nonfiction
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
by Jack Zipes
DB 88672, Available as BARD Download
A reference source containing over one thousand entries exploring the Western fairy-tale tradition, from medieval to modern. Includes information about stories, authors, artists, and many related topics. Entries address fairy tales’ roles in film, art, opera, ballet, music, and advertising. Also features articles highlighting countries with strong fairy-tale traditions. 2015.
The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction
by Neil Gaiman
DB 85020, Available as BARD Download
Eighty-five short works of nonfiction from the author of American Gods (DB 52917). Many are pieces in praise of the work of other novelists, comic book creators, filmmakers, and musicians. Included are several speeches, including Gaiman’s 2012 commencement address, “Make Good Art.”Some strong language. 2016.
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