"Half Upon a Time" - Riley

Sorry, sucker for a retold fairy tale. But this one's funny! Modern-day girl literally drops into the world of fairy tales. I especially liked it because the guy wasn't an idiot. There are many times throughout the book when he knows more than the girl.

Every once in a while, I just want a book where the girl isn't a know-it-all and the guy isn't stupid.

Jack doesn't want to go on a quest, doesn't want to rescue a princess, much less marry one, and doesn't want to hear again why it's important to do both these things. Enter May, [drop center stage] granddaughter to Snow White! Is clearly labeled a Princess from Punk! Hasn't two clues how magic works. Together, they'll save granny. Until they find granny...

Read Also:

Gail Carson Levine's Princess series including The Fairy's Mistake, Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, and For Biddle's Sake.

Fractured Fairy Tales compilation by A. J. Jacobs. The HISHE of fairy tales!

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner

The TV show "Once Upon a Time" is the adult version of this children's book!

"Rapunzel's Amazing Hair" - Kiki Thorpe

Disney - yes. Capitalizing on their target audience - yes. But the artwork! Think vintage Golden Book Cinderella! Simple, beautiful, artistic, and amazingly detailed. Chameleon in every picture.

So she's got the long hair. What good is it? This book is a list (in rhyme) of many things Rapunzel can do with her hair. Reminds me why I've always wanted long hair.

Read Also:

Walt Disney's Little Golden Book Classic Cinderella

Sarah Gibb's Rapunzel. Gorgeous artwork.

Margaret Wild's Something Absolutely Enormous full of runaway yarn!

"Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?" -Carmela Lavigna Coyle

"NO!" was the resounding reply when I read this book to the kids. I saw it while vacationing in Yellowstone. It's a darling list of how princesses have bad hair days, ride bikes, get muddy, fold their own clothes, and lots of other regular day things.

And a sequel! Do Princesses Really Kiss Frogs?

Read Also:

Jane Yolen's Not All Princesses Wear Pink.

Gail Carson Levine does a whole set of chapter books but one is The Princess Test.

Spells by Emily Gravett.

"Beauty and the Squat Bears" -Emile Bravo

Who doesn't like a good spoof! Here's a doozy. Snow White ends up at the house of the seven squat bears. She needs a prince to fix everything so a bear goes looking for one. Snags Cinderella's prince, runs across Beauty's Beast, loses both of them to a fairy godmother, and that's just one of the storylines!

 



Turns out Emile Bravo does a whole set of stories about the squat bears.

Read Also:
Jon Sciezka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs as told by the Big Bad Wolf.

Cory Rosen Schwartz's Ninja Red Riding Hood and The Three Ninja Pigs.

Ever saw the musical, Into the Woods? Yeah, kinda like that.

"The End" -David LaRochelle

Such a fun book! The whole story, in fact the whole book, is told in reverse. The title page is at the end, the cover is backwards, really clever.

I'm going to spoil the finish by saying the Princess and the Knight fall in love. But how do they fall in love? Because... And that's how the story goes, always telling the effect before the cause.

Read Also:

Why is the Snow White? by Heinz Janisch