Alice in Wonderland – Mom Read It

YA Dark Fantasy meets Fairy Tale: The Byways by Mary Pascual

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Byways, by Mary Pascual, (June 2023, SparkPress), $17.95, ISBN: 9781684631902

Ages 13+

Cece is a neurodivergent high school student who doesn’t feel like she fits anywhere: when she defends herself against her tormenters, she ends up in the principal’s office. When she’s overwhelmed by the noise and chaos of school, her teachers single her out and try to shame her. The final betrayal comes when her best friend insinuates that her other friends may think Cece is behind some missing money for a school fundraiser; Cece takes off and finds herself in the Byways, a world of the forgotten, full of alleys that change and confuse, with magic and dark figures with dark purposes. Desperate to find her way home, Cece meets some people who want to help her, and some who want to keep her for their own uses. A dark, urban reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, The Byways is full of familiar characters, but with a new spin. Themes of political unrest, bullying, homelessness, and drug abuse run throughout. A good additional purchase for collections where YA fairy tale reimaginings are popular.

picture books, Preschool Reads

Fables and Fairy Tales from Henry Herz

Posted on August 9, 2018August 8, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I fell in love with author Henry Herz’s book, Mabel and the Queen of Dreams, back in 2016. It was a wonderful way to introduce some magic to bedtime, and a nod to The Bard himself. Mr. Herz has two more books coming out this September; one is a fun fable about a selfish squid, and the other, another nod to magic, this time, courtesy of a little girl named Alice.

How the Squid Got Two Long Arms, by Henry Herz/Illustrated by Luke Graber, (Sept. 2018, Pelican Publishing), $16.99, ISBN: 9781455623884

Ages 3-7

Once upon a time, a squid had a splendid silvery scarf knitted for him by his mother, but he was still cold. Rather than go home and bundle up, our little cephalopod decides to steal an octopus’ sweater and a fiddler crab’s mitten; when he tries to snatch an eel’s hat, though, he discovers that taking things without asking can only end one way: trouble! The eel grabbed one of the squid’s 10 arms, and the octopus and crab catch up to get hold of his other arm and get their clothes back! When all is said and done, the squid is still cold, and now he has two really long arms: and a sneaky fish sneaking up to steal his scarf! The straightforward story is a gentle way to reinforce that taking things that aren’t yours is wrong; a nice morality tale set in the friendly ocean. The artwork brings a dose of fun to the story, with wide-eyed marine life and exaggerated expressions (and an eel in a hunter’s cap is pretty fantastic). An author’s note provides a photo and a little bit of background on squid.

My little guy thoroughly enjoyed this story; he had a big-eyed laugh when the squid got his comeuppance, and pointed out all the animals we’d seen at the aquarium a couple of weeks before. It’s a nice add to your shelves, and a fun add to fables, stories about empathy, and books with marine life. And here are some squid coloring sheets, to enhance the storytime!

Alice’s Magic Garden, by Henry Herz/Illustrated by Natalie Hoopes, (Sept. 2018, Familius), $16.99, ISBN: 9781641700320

Ages 5+

Alice in Wonderland fans, get ready: the subtitle here, “Before the rabbit hole”, lets you know what’s going on. Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Alice, who went to the dreariest school in all of England. While escaping her awful headmistress and cruel classmates, Alice happens upon a small, walled garden, and begins tending it, caring for a few of the inhabitants: a caterpillar and a lory bird; she even chases a smiling cat away from a rabbit. Her kindness is paid back at school, when her benefactors leave her tasty treats and take care of those bullies, telling Alice that they are friends “now and forever”. There are wonderful references to the classic tale throughout the story, and readers will fall in love with the magical realism of the garden. The artwork is colorful and calming, delightful for fairy tale fans, and the story itself is all about the power of paying it forward. This one is great storytime reading, and may nudge Mabel aside as my favorite Henry Herz book. Print out some Alice in Wonderland coloring sheets, have a mad tea party, and read this one to your littles.

Fantasy, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Wonderland Origins: The Queen of Hearts

Posted on June 4, 2016June 4, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Queen of Hearts, by Colleen Oakes (May 2016, HarperTeen), $17.99, ISBN: 9780062409720

Recommended for ages 12+

Dinah is princess of Wonderland, set to rule by her father’s side once she turns 18. Her awful, cruel father; the father from whom she seeks approval, finding only anger and distance. She’s thrown into a whirlwind of castle intrigue when her father introduces the kingdom to his long-lost daughter – a bastard child from another woman – a daughter he treats like the daughter he always wanted. Whispers worm their way through the kingdom, and Dinah needs answers, needs to stay one step ahead of her father and his cunning counselor, Cheshire, or she risks more than ascending the crown. It’s time Dinah learned about the very dark secrets that permeate Wonderland.

For years, the Queen of Hearts has been the villain of Wonderland. Think of the Queen, and what’s the first phrase that comes to mind? “OFF WITH HER HEAD!” From Disney’s cartoon villainess to Helena Bonham Carter’s giant-headed monarch in the Tim Burton films, The Queen of Hearts is not a woman to toy with.

That’s the beauty of flipped or fractured fairy tales, though: it’s all up for tinkering. Here, we’ve got the villains and the good guys flipped, and some characters we’re just not sure about. This is the first novel in a planned series by Colleen Oakes, and much of it is exposition and worldbuilding. We get a lot of Dinah’s point of view; her feelings; her digging into goings-on when you peel back the skin of Wonderland. Her father is a pretty one-dimensional bad guy, but I’m interested in Dinah: is she going to end up on the throne as the Queen of Hearts that we all know and love to hate? Is the rot that’s seemingly eating away at Wonderland eventually going to turn her into a villainess? Or will the Queen finally get her happy ending, even if a few heads have to roll to get there?

There’s a lot of build-up and machinations set into motion in this first novel, but Ms. Oakes caught my interest. I want to see where this goes, because at heart, I’m a sucker for a good fairy tale. Booktalk this with your other fairy tale collections: your Marissa Meyers books, the Dorothy Must Die series, Betsy Schow’s Spelled, Sarah Cross’ Beau Rivage books – this is a trend that’s still going strong. Collections with flipped YA fairy tales should add this one.

Colleen Oakes is the author of the Wendy Darling series. Her author website offers more information about her books, plus news and events.

Fantasy, Horror, Teen, Tween Reads

Once Upon a Zombie – these aren’t the fairy tales you’re used to!

Posted on October 11, 2015October 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Once Upon a Zombie: Book One – The Color of Fear, by Billy Phillips and Jenny Nissenson (Oct. 2015, The Toon Studio Press), $17.95, ISBN: 9781935668343

Recommended for ages 12+

Caitlin Fletcher and her wonderkid sister, Natalie, have moved to London with their dad to try and start their lives over. Caitlin’s and Natalie’s mom disappeared four years ago, and Caitlin suffers from severe anxiety, and starting over at a new school, where the mean girls have no qualms about letting Caitlin know she doesn’t measure up, is causing more anxiety than ever. The one bright spot is Jack, the super-cute boy at school who’s been friendly to her and invites her to a school dance, but a phone mixup lands Caitlin alone, in a cemetery, where she falls down the proverbial rabbit hole and lands in a fairy tale universe! The only drawback is, in this universe, all of the inhabitants are blood-eyed zombies, living under a strange curse. The fairy tale princesses we all know and love – Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty – have been sent to find Caitlin, because she holds the key to restoring order in their world and saving her own. But how is Caitlin, who’s two steps away from a panic attack, supposed to save an entire world, let alone herself?

Where do kids go after Goosebumps? Right here. This first book in a new series is a great way to ease younger horror fans into the zombie genre. The horror is slightly ramped up, with gorier descriptions of the living dead princesses and inhabitants of the fairy tale world, and there are allusions to zombies doing what zombies do best – Cinderella has to be yelled at to stop sniffing at Caitlin on a few occasions – but we’re not leaping into full-on gore and horror just yet. The secondary characters are familiar; we’ve grown up with them and heard about them for generations, so readers will get a kick out of this latest twist on the fractured fairy tale genre. There’s just enough romance to keep middle school girls happy, especially if they like their adventure light on the romance and heavy on the action.

Related to the book and mentioned in the story is the site, UnexplainableNews.com, a tabloid site the kids love checking out and aspire writing for. Direct your readers here (and check it out yourself) for some fun “news videos” on the zombie sightings happening all over the world that garner mention in the book.

Once Upon a Zombie is good fun for readers who love things that go bump in the night, but are ready to be just slightly more scared. Shelve it with a display of Monster High books!