From
fractured fairy tales to a cyborg Cinderella, authors have re-imagined fairy tales and folk lore, providing young readers with a fresh approach to a
familiar story. They rewrite or flesh
out characters and plots for various reasons: as challenge to update or explain
an archaic setting or milieu, or to take an already great story that has stood
the test of time and turn it on its head. Expanding the simple fairy tale can
allow the author to imbue it with a deeper, perhaps more relevant theme. Gregory Maguire, in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, asks how to assess the relative
values of beauty.1 Tales by
the Brothers Grimm, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Merlin, Robin
Hood, and
the modern classic, the Wizard of Oz, are especially popular stories for authors
to explore.
Maguire’s
book, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is the best known adaptation of the modern classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It tells the story of Elphaba before she
became the Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. The novel traces her
career as nun, nurse, pro-democracy activist and animal rights defender. Doesn’t sound quite like the theatrical production? Walk a bit further down the yellow brick road
and read the story of Wicked.
In Alex Flinn’s latest, Mirrored, beauty is seen as a curse and
an obsession. These updated fairy tales
have contemporary settings and issues, often
with a fair amount of teen romance:
Beastly, A Kiss in Time, Cloaked (Frog Prince), Towering.
A high tech
Cinderella starts the Lunar Chronicles
by Marissa Meyer. In a future-world
Beijing, Cinder is put to work by her stepmother repairing all the technology
gadgets and droids. It’s not her slipper
she leaves behind at the ball, it’s her outgrown cyber foot. As the series progresses, Cinder is joined by
Scarlet, the Big Bad Wolf, and Cress (Rapunzel in an isolated space capsule)
as she seeks her true identity and battles the evil Lunar Queen, who can’t have
mirrors around.
Robin
McKinley has retold the love story of Beauty and the Beast twice: Beauty and Rose Daughter. She has also
ventured into Sherwood Forest to discover the beginnings of Robin Hood and the
other denizens of Nottingham.
In the
series beginning with A Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam Gidwitz
elaborates on and concocts a tale taken from the folklore collected by the
Brothers Grimm. However, Gidwitz assures and warns the reader, these are the original, bloody, scary adventures, not for the timid
of heart. Middle school boys ( and
girls) will revel in this gruesome, yet humorous retelling of Hansel and Gretel
as the two children travel through the kingdom of Grimm. The narrator keeps a
running dialogue with the reader, commenting on the events as they unfold. AND, there be dragons.
The Arthurian legend of Merlin & King Arthur has been covered in a series by T.A.Barron. Focusing on the origins and life
of young Merlin the wizard (the "lost years"), Barron has written a rich fantasy on the mystical
character. It’s almost like witnessing
Harry Potter grow up to be Dumbledore.
Stop by the
Children’s Circulation Desk for our bookmark of fairy tales told anew, or see
an annotated list in Children’s Reading Lists on our web site.
1 Gregory Maguire, "Hijacking the Pumpkin Coach", Horn Book, May/June 2015: 17.
