fairy tales – Page 6

Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

YA Book Blitz: Love in the Gilded Age by Saruuh Kelsey

Posted on July 9, 2015July 9, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Love In The Gilded Age (Fissure Chronicles, #1)

by Saruuh Kelsey

Release Date: 10/28/14

Summary from Goodreads: Once in a hidden queendom…

There is an ocean: In the infinite distance, between one hidden world and the next, is an unmeasurable expanse of twenty seas. One sprawling edge of the
world to another is filled with waters as beautiful as they are deadly, as miraculous as they are fraught. Treasure and treachery litter their ocean beds, sleeping side by side with adventurers whose travels ended abruptly, lives caught and held under a wave until all breaths fled.

There is a land: Tucked into a corner where four oceans fold together, land rises up illustrious in a jagged slash of mountains and forests, with secrets and wonders as plentiful as any water.

There are chronicles: Not of the twenty savage seas but of the fissure of land and the people who sigh life into it.

In an original epic fantasy world, Love In The Gilded Age reimagines the heroes and heroines of Grimm fairy tales as ethnically diverse, LGBT, disabled, and gender flipped.

Buy Links:

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EXCERPT:

Xanna drove herself forward, leaning into the run to propel them along. Her mother was trailing behind her but didn’t have an option except to follow as Xanna leapt from the last bit of land and crashed into the pond. She heard Koal’s strangled shout as she broke the surface, gasping and paddling wildly. She fought every bit of tiredness in her muscles as she dragged her mother from the depths of the water; she emerged spluttering and angry. “He will kill you for that,” her mother said without emotion. No fear
for her daughter’s life, no regret, no anger, just a blank statement of facts.

“No,” Xanna hissed. “I won’t be the one dying today.”

“Three souls will pass in this last fight.” Her mother dissolved into the senseless chanting of before, only repeated the ominous three souls will pass in this last fight. At least she had the good sense to pump her legs and move her arms to stay afloat.

Xanna had to get the rope off them if her plan was going to work. She pulled at their bound wrists, fearful and frustrated, and the vine uncoiled as if in response to her wish at the same moment the Wolf
reached the edge of the pool and leapt in. It loves my mother, Xanna thought, but found she didn’t care. She gripped the rope in a fist as she put three lengths between her mother, watching the Wolf wade sloppily through the water to the woman it loved.

She didn’t have long. Xanna had to act, and she had to be both quick and quiet about it—an impossibility now that her every movement made a splash. Still, she had to try. Koal was shouting at her from the clearing but she blocked out his warnings.

The Wolf only noticed her presence when she wrapped the vine around its neck and pulled it taut. Growling, it fought to face her but couldn’t spin and remain afloat at the same time. Xanna kicked her legs faster, unable to use her arms to keep her from a drowned death as she strangled the animal. She was slipping, on the verge of sinking. Without warning, the Wolf dipped underwater, testing her grip on the vine. She lost the rope.

Xanna looked around for it desperately. It was her only weapon.

The vine didn’t resurface but the Wolf did.

About the Author

Saruuh Kelsey is the author of several novels for young adults, including the free Lux Guardians series and The Legend Mirror series. Her latest releases include THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, and a collection of diverse fairy tales in LOVE IN THE GILDED AGE. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.co.uk.

Author Links:

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Fantasy, Teen

Spelled: A Fairy Tale/Wizard of Oz Mash-Up!

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Spelled, by Betsy Schow (June 2015, Sourcebooks Fire), $9.99, ISBN: 9781492608714

Recommended for ages 13+

Spoiled princess Dorothea has it all – including a family curse that requires she, like all the women in her family, never leave the castle. That all changes the night she tries to get out of a royal matchmaking by making a wish that undoes the fabric of the land. Now, her parents are missing and she finds herself hunted by Griz, a wicked old witch; she’s on the road with Kato, her almost-fiancé-turned-chimera, and a grouchy kleptomaniac lady in waiting named Rexie. Can they find their way to the Wizard before Griz and her magic henchfolk get hold of her?

This book is a mashup that’s influenced by, but not a retelling of, Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, with a splash of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass to keep the story moving. It’s a fun take on the spoiled princess grows up concept, set in a kind of parallel Oz. There’s a lot going on here, and plotlines can become a little confusing. There’s a lack of depth to the characters, especially for a story that’s relying only on a basic recognition of established characters – this could be on purpose, as the ending leaves no question as to whether there will be a sequel.

Fans of the current young adult fairy tale mashups trend will get a kick out of this book.

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Middle School, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Fairy Tale Reform School – but are the teachers scarier than the students?

Posted on March 13, 2015February 13, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked, by Jen Calonita (March 2015, Sourcebook Jabberwocky) $15.99, ISBN: 9781492601562

Recommended for ages 10-14

Gilly isn’t bad, really. She’s just a little light-fingered. But she’s doing it for her family – her father’s a shoemaker, and she’s got a LOT of brothers and sisters. (Sounding like a familiar tale yet?) Unfortunately for Gilly, she gets caught one too many times, and ends up at Fairy Tale Reform school, where Cinderella’s stepmother is the headmistress and faculty include the Evil Queen (Snow White’s stepmother) and the Big Bad Wolf. Gilly makes two friends, Kayla and Jax, who give her the inside scoop on FTRS; just as Gilly’s gut told her, there’s more going on than meets the eye. There’s one villain on the loose, and she’s bringing the fight to the school. Are the teachers really reformed, or is there someone on the inside helping the wrong side?

I’m a big fan of this flipped fairy tale trend happening in juvenile and YA fiction. It’s a great way of keeping a little spark of childhood wonder with us, and there really are some great stories to build on. Flunked – which reads, at points, like Scared Straight for fairy tales – is an interesting entry into this genre. We’ve got the big guns: Cinderella, Snow White, and their antagonists here, and we have one of the children of the old woman who lives in a shoe. We’re firmly rooted in the mythology, so we can slip right into the tale.

Gilly is a likable character; she’s the thief with a heart of gold, the maligned daughter who just wants to help her family. She’s the most developed character, but there are reasons for that which become clear as the book progresses. There were some good plot reveals and characters that you never quite trust – it’s a good suspense, where the reader is left to guess where loyalties truly lie. I’m interested in seeing where future stories take us, now that we’ve got an established storyline, characters, and plot.

Jen Calonita is a popular tween/YA author. Her Secrets of My Hollywood Life series is hugely popular at my library, and I’m super-excited, because I just found out that she will be speaking to my son’s middle school, Russell Sage JHS in Queens, on March 13th!

While you’re waiting for your copy of Flunked, check out the book’s website, and find your FTRS mentor. Professor Wolfington is mine, which makes me pretty happy. The book’s Facebook page offers fun shots of the “police blotter”- news clips that appear, along with newspaper articles about incidents taking place within the school and the village, in Flunked. This could lead to a fun program at a library or in class – create your own newspaper article with a modern-day spin on a fairy tale! There’s a great activity kit with some ideas that I may use in my own library for Summer Reading.

Early Reader, Preschool Reads

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs is a laugh-out-loud retelling (that every mom will love)!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs, by Davide Cali (April 2015, Tundra Books) $17.99, ISBN: 9781770497634

Recommended for ages 3-8

In this hilarious retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White escapes the Evil Queen, and ends up at a house that belongs to 77 dwarfs. They let her stay on the proviso that she helps with the chores. For 77 little men. Not only does she have to remember everyone’s name, but she’s got to do their laundry, help with their grooming, tell every single one of them their own, personal bedtime story, referee all the quibbling – is being on the run really worth this, Snow?

Every mother will appreciate this, whether she’s wrangling multiple children, hosting a playdate, or acting as class mom. I’ve got three kids, and on some days, I swear there are 77. Snow White, I’m right there with you.

This book is adorable, with bright, cartoony illustrations that kids and grownups alike will enjoy. Snow White’s expressions are priceless (and oh, so recognizable), and the multitude of dwarfs, with all their word balloons, will strike a chord with any parent whose found themselves surrounded by children.

Look at me, I’m reviewing this book for parents. But we’re the ones who read them first, so why not? Kids will love this book because it’s flat-out funny, with eye-catching art. They’re most likely already familiar with the story of Snow White, so they’ll have a good frame of reference for Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs. And if you read this book as dramatically as I plan to? You’re going to have a lot of giggles and cries of, “Again! Again!” This is going into my bedtime rotation and my storytime rotation. Don’t miss this book.

Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade

The Lunch Witch will have you looking at your lunch ladies in a whole new light.

Posted on February 5, 2015January 30, 2026 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Lunch Witch, by Deb Lucke (PaperCutz, 2014) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-62991-162-5

Recommended for ages 8-13

Remember those lunch ladies when you were in elementary school? Remember how so many of them would slop that unidentifiable morass of…something onto your plate, almost gleeful at your confused or terrified expression. Meet Grunhilda, everyone. With fewer and fewer people believing in magic, she’s out of a job and down on her luck. So what’s a poor witch, with generations of experience stirring up cauldrons of trouble (and possibly, children) to do? You guessed it: she puts on a hairnet and an apron, and goes to work as a lunch lady in a school cafeteria. You’re seeing things from your childhood a lot more clearly now, aren’t you?

Being a cafeteria lady is awesome. Grunhilda cooks up awful pots full of foulness that turn kids’ stomachs upside down, and almost no one seems the wiser. Except for Madison, a quirky kid that kind of sees Grunhilda for who she really is, and attempts to blackmail Grunhilda into helping her. When things go awry for Madison, will Grunhilda actually help a kid? And if she does, how will the witch community feel about that?

The Lunch Witch is one of those graphic novels that works great for readers of all ages. It would go so well with a unit on fairy tales, as a kind of epilogue – what happens to the wicked witch when everyone else lives happily ever after? Fairy tales, and re-tellings of fairy tales, are experiencing a renaissance in media and in the classroom these days, so teachers and parents, jump on this!

I loved the look of this book. The book itself looks like an old tale, with stained-looking pages and black, white, and grey/olive artwork. The occasional use of color is impactful, whether it’s to draw attention to a frog or show the jarring blue of a cafeteria door.

There is some delightfully morbid humor, too. After all, witches aren’t known for being sunshine and flowers, unless you’re talking about Glinda the Good Witch. Any original Grimm’s fairy tale will tell you that these ladies were formidable in their own right. Ms. Lucke uses these awful characteristics to make Gruhhilda’s plight even more desperate in this day and age. You really can’t get away with grave robbery, and how many kids are getting left in the forest to happen upon a candy house these days?

I’d love to see some more Lunch Witch adventures! In the meantime, give this book to your younger readers, and get ready for some laughs when they start looking at the lunch lady differently.

The Lunch Witch is on sale in stores now.

Fantasy, Fiction, Teen

Sarah Cross’ Tear You Apart returns to Beau Rivage

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Tear You Apart, by Sarah Cross (Jan 2015, EgmontUSA) $17.99, ISBN: 9781606845912

Recommended for ages 14+

Fairy tale fans who loved Sarah Cross’ Kill Me Softly, get to go back to Beau Rivage and hang out with the Cursed in the next installment of Cross’ series, Tear You Apart.

This time, we get more of a focus on Viv, who’s got the Snow White curse. Her stepmother is determined to kill her, and she’s going to try and convince Henley, Viv’s on-again, off-again Huntsman boyfriend, to do it. When Viv hides out in the Underworld, she meets her prince – but is he really her key to Happy Ever After?

I have to say, for all the little issues I had with Kill Me Softly, it was a fun read with a great premise; Tear You Apart is an even better story that I really enjoyed. We’ve got more fairy tales, including the Twelve Dancing Princesses! The amount of research Ms. Cross puts into her fairy tales is amazing, but it’s her modern-day interpretations of the curses that really blows me away. I love her world-building.

While Viv is still not the greatest heroine, she’s a stronger female character than Kill Me Softly’s Mira. Henley has resolved more of his anger issues by now, which is a huge relief. The Big Bad in this book is truly a repugnant son of a gun, and he’s so gleefully awful that I found myself digging in at all hours of the night, waiting to see what he could do next.

Tear You Apart comes out in January, and it’s worth the wait. In the meantime, queue up some episodes of Grimm and Once Upon a Time, and get ready.

Fantasy, Teen, Uncategorized, Young Adult/New Adult

Kill Me Softly – fairy tales don’t always end in happily ever after

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross, (2012, Egmont USA), $9.99, ISBN: 9781606843239

Recommended for ages 14+

Mira Lively has been raised by her godmothers ever since her parents died in a fire at her christening. They’ve kept her pretty sheltered, and Mira is tired of their secrets. She decides to run away to the Louisiana town of Beau Rivage right before her 16th birthday, to find her parents’ graves and feel a connection with them. Things don’t exactly go as planned.

She ends up in Beau Rivage, and finds herself in a casino, where an obnoxious guy named Blue, and his friend Freddie, try to get her to another casino/hotel. She ends up meeting Blue’s brother, Felix, who manages the hotel, and offers her a free suite to stay in.

From there, Mira is swept into a group of teens who have big personalities. They all seem to be hiding something from her – something goes beyond their inside jokes, and they all keep trying to get her away from Felix, especially Blue. Gradually, Mira discovers that the teens in Beau Rivage – herself included – are special. Sentenced to live lives that play out according to fairy tales chosen by actual fairies, they include Jewel, who coughs up flower petal and jewels; Viv, a Snow White whose stepmother will one day send Viv’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, a Huntmans after her to cut out her heart, and Rafe, a crass jerk who will one day transform into a Beast, his curse only breakable when he gets a Beauty to fall in love with him.

Mira’s got a Curse, too – and her 16th birthday is fast approaching. Spending time in Beau Rivage, Mira learns about her Curse, and the curses of everyone around her except for Felix’s and Blue’s – but she needs to find out before it’s too late.

I like fairy tales, and I like stories that turn fairy tales upside down. In that respect, this was a quick, fun, read. But the characters are a group of teens that make some of the worst decisions and are just awful people. Mira decides – at 15 – that a 21 year-old man (Felix) is her true love, even though she’s only known him for a couple of days and everyone she meets tries to warn her away from him. Viv treats Henley – the Huntsman who happens to be her boyfriend when she feels like it – like dirt, flirting with other guys right in front of him and sending him off into a violent rage. Shouldn’t she want to be on his good side?

Speaking of Hensley, his anger issues have anger issues. He starts breaking up cars in a parking lot after seeing Viv flirt with other guys. And she stays with this guy? She also continues living with her stepmother – a woman who will try to kill her at some point – WHY?

Princes marry their Snow Whites, then drug them up because they can’t be excited by them if they’re awake. This, my friends, is really disturbing.

Like I said, Kill Me Softly is a fun read, but if you’re looking for great character study, this isn’t the place. I understand that things need to play out a certain way in this world, but at some point, common sense needs to enter the game.

Sarah Cross’ author page offers links to her social media, plus short stories taking place in the world established in Kill Me Softly. She also links to her Fairy Tale Mood Tumblr, where she posts fairy tale inspiration.

Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Tween Reads

Neil Gaiman’s Hansel & Gretel – A WhatchaReading Review!

Posted on July 22, 2014July 21, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I was lucky enough to review an advance copy of the upcoming Neil Gaiman/Lorenzo Mattotti graphic retelling of Hansel & Gretel for WhatchaReading. Check out my excerpt here:

I’m on a fairy tale kick these days. Call it an occupational hazard – my secret identity is that of a not-so-mild mannered children’s librarian, after all – but lately, a good fairy tale just hits the spot. I’m not talking unicorns barfing rainbows, though – I’m talking proper Grimm Fairy Tales, which is really where horror movies probably began.

Actually, the Grimm Brothers get a lot of credit for freaky-scary fairy tales, but most fairy tales in their original aspects have some gruesome aspects to them – Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off their toes to try to wedge that glass slipper on their feet in the original tale. Puss ‘N Boots used subterfuge and murder to get his pal a castle and lands of his own. Shards from the Snow Queen’s frozen mirror pierced people’s eyes and hearts and froze them from the inside. (Both Cinderella and Puss were written by Charles Perrault, and The Snow Queen was written by Hans Christian Andersen.) Fairy tales were kind of like terrifying Aesop’s Fables back in the day; the Middle Ages parenting way of saying, “If you cross without looking both ways, you’ll get hit by a bus!” but a lot more creative.

Check out the rest of my review at WhatchaReading, and make sure to pre-order your copy today!

Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Egg and Spoon – Gregory Maguire spins a rich Russian fairytale

Posted on July 20, 2014July 20, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Egg and Spoon, by Gregory Maguire (Candlewick, Sept. 2014). $17.99, ISBN: 9780763672201

Recommended for ages 12+

Gregory Maguire is renowned for creating his alternate versions of fairy tales, most notably, Wicked. In Egg and Spoon, he creates a sweeping Russian fairy tale, encompassing historical figures such as Tsar Nikolai Romanov and Rasputin, and fantasy favorites like Baba Yaga, the Phoenix/Firebird, and the Slavic Dragon, to create a sweeping tale that goes from the impoverished Russian countryside all the way to Saint Petersburg and beyond.

At its heart is a tale reminiscent of The Prince and the Pauper: a young peasant girl named Elena meets a spoiled rich girl named Ekaterina, when Ekaterina’s train breaks down in Elena’s village. Elena’s mother is dying, her brothers have been called off either to military service or employment, and her father is dead. She wants to go to St. Petersburg to ask the tsar to send her brother home to help care for their mother. Fate intervenes, and the two girls swap places, where each learns about the other girl’s life by living her life. Baba Yaga shows up, because the chaotic seasons are causing her distress, and she ends up becoming Ekaterina’s guardian as they proceed to St. Petersburg to ask the tsar what’s going on in the world.

The tale, narrated by a prisoner in the tsar’s tower, looks at magic in the everyday world, and what a stabilizing force it is. There are themes of family, friendship, and morality all at play, with a lot of humor – Baba Yaga is hilarious here – and conflict.

My only concern here is that at almost 500 pages, middle graders may balk at reading this. Teens will enjoy the story, and it’s a book that really should be on every library shelf. This one will win awards, there’s no question. The writing is beautiful and there are some incredible themes explored. A semester-long unit on fairy tales for older students would really be enhanced by using this book, and book groups for all ages will never run out of material to talk about.

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club – a Jazz Age retelling of a beloved fairy tale.

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, by Genevieve Valentine (Atria Books, 2014). $24, ISBN: 9781476739083

Recommended for ages 14+

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a reimagining of the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in the Jazz Age. Jo, the oldest – known as “The General” to her sisters – and her 11 sisters are all but prisoners, locked in their businessman father’s townhome. Ashamed that his marriage couldn’t produce a son, he hides his daughters from the world, homeschooling them and giving them a small amount of money toward living expenses, like clothes and shoes. Their mother died, leaving Jo to watch over all of them. Their cold, standoffish father periodically sends for Jo to give him updates, but never spends time with his daughters.

Jo’s had enough. At first, she sneaks out to movie theatres, where she falls in love with dancing. She learns the moves, and teaches them to her sisters. And then, they start going out at night. As each of them are old enough, they join Jo, Lou, and the rest of their sisters, until all 11 girls wait for Jo’s nightly signal, sneak into cabs outside, and head for the speakeasies, where they dance their nights away. They live to dance and flirt, and Jo watches over all of them.

But nothing can last forever. The father has decided to start quickly and quietly marrying them off, and he expects Jo’s help in getting the job done. The time is coming for Jo to make decisions that will change all of their lives forever.

The Roaring Twenties is really a perfect setting for a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Ms. Valentine’s description of the nights out, dancing in the speakeasies, the clothes, and the music really placed me in the setting. One issue I had with the book is that, with so many characters, it was hard to “know” anyone but Jo. We get a very good idea of who she is, but the character development is really just touched on with the other sisters. The narrative sometimes slows down a bit too much, but it’s only because it’s leading to a literary explosion, a little more than halfway through, where I couldn’t put the book down. The tension between Jo and her father, when it finally comes to a head, is fantastic.

The book hits bookstores on June 4, and I think it’s a great summer read for teens. In an age when so many fairy tales are being remade for younger audiences, like Frozen’s retelling of The Snow Queen, we shouldn’t forget that teen readers can enjoy fairy tales, too. It’s also a great look into a prominent decade in American pop culture.