Fairy Tales Gone Wild

"Once Upon a Time, The End" is a wonderful book that retells some of the most famous fairy tales in 60 seconds. Very clever!

"Cinderella's Rat" is a fun book that tells a different side of Cinderella's story. You remember the rat that got turned into the coachman? This is his story.

"Goldie and the Three Hares" tells about a familiar little girl, Goldilocks, and how she stumbles into the house of the three hares while running away from the three bears. Very fun!

These books are stories that combine several fairy tales together. They are pretty clever!

"Previously" works backwards following various characters. "Previously, Jack went up the hill with Jill. Previously, Jack ran out of a giant's house and climbed down the beanstalk." Things like that.

"Each Peach Pear Plum" is on several of the "100 Books Ever Child Should Read Before Kindergarten" lists. In a beautiful rhyme, it follows some of our favorite characters as they run into each other out in the world.

"Red Green Blue" is a book that helps teach the colors but does so through telling about fairy tale characters. In rhyme, we learn about colors as well as Little Boy Blue, the Three Blind Mice, and Jack and Jill.

"Beauty and the Squat Bears" is a compilation of all the fairy tales! It would be better for slightly older kids, maybe over 7, just because it's a bit confused and longer. Super fun book, though! The ending is a subtle jab at the sex-roles of men and women. The men sit in front of the TV while the women do all the housework.

Anyone with little girls has heard/seen/read/told the stories of the princesses zillions of times. These stories are some twists on our favorites, and all three are books I got from the library and ended up buying for my nieces.

"Waking Beauty" is essentially Sleeping Beauty all mixed up. She's been asleep for 100 years, and a prince stumbles upon her. He tries tons of ways to wake her up but to no avail. Finally, the fairies tell him and it works! My favorite line: One hundred years of morning breath? Wow! That could be the kiss of death!

"Falling for Rapunzel" is bringing back the classic Rapunzel story (also made popular by the movie "Tangled"), but the Rapunzel gets confused and isn't sure how to help the prince get to her! In the end, there is a bit of confusion as far as who should end up where!

"Cinder Edna" is a girl who grows up next door to Ella. They both meet and marry the men of their dreams, but it doesn't look like you'd think it would! (I am collecting various Cinderella books from around the world and variations like these to send to my girls.)

"The Princess and the Pizza" starts out as the ordinary princess-wants-to-marry-the-prince fairy tale, but it quickly takes some quirky turns! Very fun! My kids, 4-9 LOVED it! They were giggling the whole time.

"The Princess and the Pig" is your classic story of mistaken identity. Well, maybe not so much. A piglet and baby get swapped, and for years they try to explain how it happened because of what "happens in books all the time." Though, in the end, it was not what happens in books. Very clever, and lots of fun!

These books by Keith Harrelson tell familiar stories of the princesses we know well. What makes these Fairy Tales unique is the pictures. Rather than illustrations, there are photographs of dogs, but they are wearing clothes! I love it! The story isn't changed at all (for instance, they don't change names or anything to sound more "doggy"), but the pictures are mighty fun! I got all three for my nieces!

Not only have fairy tales been rewritten, fables and folktales are getting new spins as well.

"Stone Pizza" is a fun twist on the famous "Stone Soup." Led by the cunning coyote, the desert animals create a fine pizza!

"The Wolf Who Cried Boy" is a great twist on the fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." I loved it!

"Betsy Red Hoodie" is certainly a twist on "Little Red Riding Hood." I absolutely love it! There are lots of great play-on-words for the grown-ups, and it is very clever. Certainly a great one to get on your next trip to the library!