Retelling of Classic Fairy Tales

Fiction/Brust

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars

Brust, Steven

In the Hungarian fairy tale of the same name, Csucskari the Gypsy and his brothers must overcome great obstacles to place the sun, the moon, and the stars in the skies. Brust's story parallels this quest with the creative struggle of a modern group of artists hoping to achieve fame and fortune through their paintings.

Fiction/Dalkey

The Nightingale

Dalkey, Kara

Using the flute of her guiding ancestral spirit, Uguisu plays more beautifully than any other musician in ancient Japan. When her talents come to the Emperor's attention, he decides to have her installed at Court. As she prepares to become an Imp erial Lady, Uguisu learns that her ancestral spirits have set her up to help avenge wrongs that the Emperor's kin did to her family generations ago. Now she must figure out a way to protect the Emperor, and to save herself from being used as a pawn in an evil game.

Fiction/Black

Black Thorn, White Rose

Datlow, Ellen and Terri Windling, eds.

Contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and horror writers take the fairy tale back to its original, darker form. This anthology includes a variety of stories—some haunting, some sensual, and some comic—that are drawn from traditional fairy tales. Don't expect them all to have a happy ending... For further reading, see Datlow and Windling's Snow White, Blood Red (Fiction Snow), an even darker collection of fairy-tale-inspired stories.

Fiction/de Lint

Jack the Giant Killer

de Lint, Charles

In the traditional tale, Jack conquers the giants who terrorize his English homeland, winning glory, treasure and a princess's hand in the process. In de Lint's retelling, Jacqueline lives in Canada and becomes enmeshed in the world of faerie wher e a battle rages between the good and bad faerie forces. To prevent the destruction of the good faeries, Jacky must find the magical horn that the evil giant, Gyre the Elder, has taken and use the instrument to free the daughter of the Laird, leader of t he good faeries. If she fails, it could mean the end of the good faeries—and of Jacky herself. Readers who enjoy this book may want to try Emma Bull's War for the Oaks (SF Paperback).

Fiction/Hooper

Once Upon A Time--What Dreams May Come

Hooper, Kay

One week before their wedding day, Kelly Russell's fiancé, John, has an accident that leaves him in a coma. As the years pass and John shows no signs of improvement, Kelly slowly begins to piece her life together again. When John awakens eight ye ars later, he finds he must win a place in her new life. Inspired by the Sleeping Beauty tale, Hooper's romance series also includes Once Upon A Time —The Glass Shoe (Fiction Hooper) based on the Cinderella tale and Once Upon A Time—Golden Threads (Ficti on Hooper) based on the Rapunzel story.

Fiction/Synge

Swan's Wing

Synge, Ursula

In Hans Christian Andersen's story The Wild Swans, a princess whose eleven brothers have been turned into swans breaks their enchantment by knitting them shirts of nettles. The youngest brother receives a shirt with only one sleeve and becomes a m an with a swan's wing in the place of one of his arms. Swan's Wing tells the story of this youngest brother, Lothar, as he struggles to cope with his deformity. Lothar joins forces with Matthew, a gifted stone-carver and Gerda, a simple goose-girl. The trio decides to seek an antidote to the enchantment and set out on what becomes an extraordinary journey.

Fiction/Tepper

Beauty

Tepper, Sheri S.

At the age of fifteen, Beauty discovers that at her christening, an aunt's curse has doomed her to die on her sixteenth birthday. When that fateful day finally arrives, the entire castle in which Beauty resides falls asleep, and she finds herself magically transported from her 14th century home into the chaotic world of the 20th century. Beauty thus begins a journey through time and space that will force her to confront many perils, but will also offer her the chance to grasp her true destiny.

Fiction/Wrede

Snow White and Rose Red

Wrede, Patricia

In Elizabethan England, the worlds of faeries and mortals existed side-by-side until the faerie Madini severs the connection between the two worlds. When Hugh, a prince of faerie, falls under an unknown spell that transforms him into a bear, he is cast out from the land of faerie. His brother, John, decides to follow him and try to save him. Now, adrift in the world of mortals, John and Hugh need help to break the spell. Their best hopes are Blanche and Rosamund, two young women who live with th eir widowed mother on the outskirts of the faerie world. Will the two women realize the true plight of the friendly bear they meet in the forest?

Fiction/Yolen

Briar Rose

Yolen, Jane

After the death of her grandmother, Gemma, Becca lovingly remembers Gemma's life, especially the unique way she always used to tell the story of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty). When Becca's parents find a box of old photographs, newspaper clippings and a man's ring that Gemma had kept hidden and that no one in the family understands, Becca begins to wonder how well she really knew her grandmother. Becca determines to unravel the secret of Gemma's life contained in the box and in Gemma's unique rendition of the Briar Rose tale. Her obsession carries her from the east coast of the United States to the heart of Europe, and ultimately into the nightmares of the Holocaust.

813.0108/DON

Don't Bet on the Prince

Zipes, Jack, ed.

This short story collection includes both scholarly essays on the fairy tale and a number of retellings of fairy tales from a feminist point of view.