Picture Book Resource
The Jolly Postman, or, Other People’s Letters by Janet & Allan Ahlberg
The Jolly Postman makes his rounds delivering letters to various fairy tale characters. Readers get to peak inside the envelopes (cleverly designed pages with pockets) and read the letters (hidden in the envelopes) being delivered.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fairy Tale Fans: The letters fill in some of what happens after the normal fairy tale ends, perfect for kids who want more to the stories.
- Writing Prompt/Letter Writing Practice: Have students write some other letters the Jolly Postman may deliver to other fairy tale characters.
Middle Grade Fiction Resources
Half upon a Time by James Riley
There are three books in the Half upon a Time series: This one, and then Twice upon a Time and Once upon the End.
Jack's life really doesn't have much of a pleasant outlook. His father disappeared after stealing some things from a giant. He is an absolute failure at doing anything right in hero school, and so being a hero doesn't seem likely. And since he doesn't have royal blood, that pretty much dooms him to being a no-name peasant the rest of his life. But then one day a princess falls into his life. No really. She falls out of the sky and practically knocks him over. May is not the most conventional princess. In fact, she didn't even know she had royal blood until some guy in green and a bunch of dwarves showed up at her grandma's house and kidnapped her grandma, but not before that woman sent May through a portal to this strange fairy tale land. Thus Jack finds himself unwittingly the helper for a rather sarcastic and unprincessy princess looking for her rather famous grandmother (anyone heard of Snow White?) in a magical land that doesn't seem to have as many happy endings as the stories May has read. Along the way May and Jack gain some friends, make some enemies, and then get totally confused at the end as some people turn out to not be exactly who they were claiming to be. (And yes, if you can get your hands on the rest of the series all at once, that might be advisable. The book ends with a few more questions than answers.)
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Making Connections: These fairy tale mashups are great for readers to practice making connections with prior reading knowledge.
- Fantasy Fans: There are numerous kids out there with a steady, insatiable thirst for fantasy books. I find some parents worry about this, but there’s good research that fantasy reading helps kids build imagination, problem solving, and empathy with people different from themselves plus many other things. Feed the thirst.
- Humor Fans: The first two books in this series are quite humorous. The third gets a little more serious as it moves to the big confrontation, but that doesn’t seem to dissuade readers. This series is constantly in demand with boys and girls, and I’ve seen several kids re-read it.
- Peter Pan Fans: In addition to traditional fairy tale characters, some Peter Pan characters show up in this series.
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
There are three books in The League of Princes series: This one, The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle, and The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw.
Prince Frederic, Prince Gustav, Prince Liam, and Prince Duncan all have one thing in common. They all have been immortalized in song by their local bards, and all have taken a back seat to the ladies in the songs, demoted to simply a supporting character called Prince Charming. Prince Frederic sets off a chain of events that lead to their meeting by being a complete and utter chicken. It isn't all his fault of course. His father, the king of Harmonia has thoroughly engrained in Frederic that any kind of action more exciting than watching grass grow will probably end up being deadly and should be avoided. So Frederic's idea of excitement is having a picnic, something just a little too bland for his fiancé Ella. So she sets off for an adventure, spurring Frederic to do the unthinkable...go after her. He runs into Prince Gustav of the kingdom of Sturmhagen, a man haunted by being rescued by Rapunzel after he tried to rescue her. (They aren't really on speaking terms.) Gustav gets entangled in Frederic's quest to find Ella. Eventually these two Prince Charmings run into Liam, who is in the dog house with not one but two kingdoms for breaking up with his fiancé Sleeping Beauty (who is not all that pleasant when awake), and Prince Duncan who is a very…umm, I guess we'll go with a very unique character and happily married to the princess he rescued, Snow White. Along the way, the unlikely foursome of Princes Charming run into the King of the Bandits and discover a plot by the witch Zaubera, who has some major anger management issues and a score to settle with heroes and bards.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fractured Fairy Tale Fans/Humor Fans: This book is fractured fairy tales at its very best. I thoroughly enjoyed it (Prince Duncan alone would have made me love the book, all the others are just icing on the cake). Each tale and character is deliciously and humorously convoluted from the normal happily ever after version. It is a rollicking good time of misadventures and plans gone awry, all to end up pretty satisfactorily despite the best laid plans of the bad and good guys. Kids and adult alike, if you want a dose of fairy tale fiction with some chuckles along the way, this is a great pick. It is one of my go-to recommendations and so far it has always been a winner. Those who read the first book, boy or girl, always come back to quickly devour the rest of the series.
- Reluctant Readers: As mentioned, this series is always a winner.
- Read Aloud: If you can manage to read aloud without dissolving into a ball of laughter, this is a great one sure to please a diverse audience.
- Compare/Contrast: This is also a good choice for teachers doing a fairy tale unit who want to compare and contrast with the typical versions.
- Making Connections: And of course, half the fun of fractured fairy tales is the way they clash with prior knowledge of how the story is supposed to go.
The Fairy-tale Detectives series by Michael Buckley
There are nine books in this series so I’m not going to list them all here. Click on the link to see all the titles.
Two girls, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, are sent to live with their Grandmother after their parents disappear. They soon discover that they are part of a long line of fairy-tale detectives, and their family is somewhat responsible for keeping the Everafters safe in Fairy tale Landing so that they don’t freak out the rest of the world with their magic. After hundreds of years, though, the Everafters are growing restless. A secret group of evil Everafters called the Red Hand are responsible for Sabrina and Daphne’s parents’ disappearance, and are intent on breaking free from the magic that keeps them in Fairy tale Landing. While they hunt down the big mystery, small mysteries pop up in each book that the girls must solve with the help of their Grandmother.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Series Fans: I frequently get readers who ask me for a new series to get hooked on. Well, this one has nine books in it, so it should keep those craving series satisfied for a while.
- Fairy Tale Fans: This was the series that somewhat sparked the trend of fairy tale mashups recently. It started in 2005. It’s popularity has somewhat cooled in our school, but every once in a while a student discovers it and zooms through all nine books. I think fairy tale fans still should love it. It just is a little older so some current middle graders haven’t ever heard of it.
- Mystery Fans: Each of these books has a clever mystery just begging to be puzzled out. And of course there’s the big mystery that takes the whole nine books to get untangled.
- Character Studies: This series is exceedingly interesting in how it portrays famous fairy tale characters. Many of them immigrated to the US out of necessity, but after several hundred years of being stuck in one city some of them have gone from sweet and lovable to disgruntled and mean. It isn’t always fun to see favorite characters go bad, but it is an interesting thought exercise of what if that favorite character had been put in difficult circumstances?
Grimmtastic Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
There are eight + books in this series so I'm not going to list them all. Click on the series to see all the titles.
Fairy tale characters all go to a boarding school, Grimm Academy, and have typical girl issues while elements of their fairy tales are also worked into the ongoing story. As of right now, there are eight books in this series. (Well, technically seven. #8 comes out next week.) It shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, and Holub is known for pumping out series that reach well into double digits, so this should have plenty of titles to please it’s fan base for a while.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Middle Grade Girls: This series is constantly checked out by the middle grade girls at our school. It is hugely popular. It seems to deal with typical problems that this age group can relate to, which I think is part of the draw.
- Boarding School Story Fans: There’s a small reader base that just craves boarding school stories. This is one for them.
- Fairy Tale Fans: I think this is self-explanatory.
The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker
The Tales of the Wide-awake Princess series is also still growing. There are currently five books in this series, with a sixth set to come out next year. Click on the series title to see all the books.
Thanks to the epic catastrophe at her sister Gwendolyn's christening (seriously miffed a nasty fairy and got the whole prick a finger curse thing), Annie's parents were a bit more wary when it came to her christening. They took her secretly to a nice fairy for advice before the event, and that fairy decided the best thing to do was make Annie immune to magic. So while all the other princes and princesses go around sporting magically enhanced beauty and skills, Annie is just her basic self. Which turns out very handy when, despite all the precautions, Gwendolyn goes and finds a way to prick her finger on a spinning wheel before her 16th birthday and everyone in the castle falls asleep with her. Everyone except the one girl immune to magic. Annie decides that being stuck in a castle with several hundred sleeping people and creatures is just a bit too creepy and that she should really go out trying to find a prince to fix this instead. So off she goes, on a prince hunt. Of course, in a land with magic fairies and stuff, it isn't always safe to walk around looking for princes and solutions to magical curses. Annie finds plenty of excitement on the way. Thankfully, Liam, a guard who was outside the castle when the curse descended volunteers to accompany her on her quest so she isn't totally on her own. They set out first to find Digby, the prince who has been hanging out the most at the castle. But Annie decides it wouldn't hurt to get as many kissers as possible, so every prince they run into also gets invited. And by the time they eventually make it back, there's quite a little gaggle of princes waiting to try out their smooches on the sleeping princess.
Annie's quest is peppered with all sorts of fairy tale allusions. A little Hansel & Gretel, a little Frog Prince, a little Rapunzel, a little Snow White & Rose Red (yeah, that one is a little less well known), a little Princess Who Had Never Laughed, etc. Not quite as funny a mashup as Healy's League of Princes, but still enjoyable. Annie is a likeable princess with a good head on her shoulders and Liam is a stand up guy. I liked how her immunity to magic was used in the story. That was a nice little unique touch. The series eventually sorts out Gwendolyn’s problems but that doesn’t stop Annie from having all sorts of other adventures.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fantasy/Fairy Tale Fans: There's a sizable group of middle school girls at our school who live on princesses and fairy tales. Several have devoured everything the library holds that fits that niche, so I'm always on the lookout for more books to satisfy their appetites. This author is already popular with this fan base thanks to her Frog Princess series, and this series has had a steady stream of readers since we got it. And they are always happy that Baker keeps adding titles.
- Making Connections: Some of the fairy tale inclusions in this series are obvious, while others are more subtle (and refer to obscure fairy tales). So this one provides a little more exercise in making connections and catching references.
- Spurring Further Reading: I’m sure there’s a huge section of fairy tale fans out there who will run into unfamiliar fairy tales in this series. It could give them further reading ideas. Like to go hunt down the Snow White & Rose Red tale or the Princess Who Never Laughed.
Storybound by Marissa Burt
There’s just one other book in this series, Story’s End. And do yourself a favor, check out both at the same time.
Una is reading a book in the library of her school, when suddenly she finds herself in a very different place. A place where the kids all train to be Heroes or Villains or Ladies and other such typical story characters, for the place is the land of Story. The people in Story live out the plot lines of stories for those in the land of Readers. In times past, the stories were written by the Muses and people could be Written In from outside Story. But the Muses became unfaithful and things started to go very wrong in Story until a Hero, Archimago, saved them, destroyed the Muses, and became the Tale Master. Now all the books are locked away and people fear to read the poisonous ink of the Muses. So when Una finds herself Written In to Story, she's in danger because of the way people associate Written Ins (WIs) with the unfaithful Muses. Thankfully, Una runs into Peter first. He's a Hero student, and decides to help Una stay safe. So Una is enrolled in the Story school as a transfer student, and when she's not going to classes on Questing and Villainy, she's trying to figure out who wrote her in and why. Her research (with Peter and Sam the talking cat) uncovers some very serious secrets that threaten all of Story. (view spoiler)
I loved the world that Burt built. I've read other books which had people in a storybook land, but never before were the original story book characters gone. For example, Snow White and Cinderella have been gone for ages, but other Story residents will train to act those parts. That's why Peter and Una are in school, to train for a certain type of role. Also, there are different districts in Story - Fantasy, and Western, and Sci-Fi, etc - so you get more than just the fairy tale characters wandering around. It was a very fun setting, and the mystery was well-done.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Thinking Outside the Box/World Building: Burt created a very interesting and imaginative world that pushed the boundaries of what is typically done. It’s a good case study for wannabe writers.
- Fairy Tale Fans: Instead of just meeting your favorite fairy tale characters, how’d you like to become one? That’s the possibility this tale opens up to the imagination.
- Mystery Fans: There’s a very puzzling mystery that will make you NEED both of these books at the same time.
- Magical School Fans: Those who like schools in which their characters study a bit more than just math and science, will find just the thing in this world.
The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker by E.D. Baker
The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker series so far has two books in it, with a third coming out in October. Click the link to see all the titles.
Cory is through being a tooth fairy. After going through the training and giving it a chance, she just knows it isn't the job for her. She wants to do something that really helps people, though she's not sure what. Of course, that answer is nowhere near sufficient for her mother, who is a tooth fairy herself and believes Cory is making a huge mistake in leaving the guild. Unable to stand her mother's constant nagging, Cory moves in with her wise and understanding Uncle Micah. Cory starts looking for odd jobs to tide her over while she tries to figure out what it is she really wants to do. In the process, she meets some very interesting characters, and inadvertently starts getting asked by people to set them up on dates with others. So far, her matchmaking skills have been woefully inadequate, but her little odd jobs have had fun moments. That is until the Tooth Fairy Guild starts making good on their threats to make her sorry for trying to leave. Cory doesn't know what to do. It's going to take something or someone extraordinary to help her out of the mess with the guild and to figure out what occupation best fits her.
Baker has built a very fun fantasy world filled with all sorts of fairy tale, nursery rhyme, and legendary characters. I loved watching Cory babysit for Humpty Dumpty, a precocious child with a penchant for heights, or trying to help her friend Miss Muffet with a serious spider problem. It's a creative and fun world with the serious touches the guild adds. The matchmaker part of the plot is really secondary to watching the fun and hazards of all the little odd jobs Cory does and getting to know her circle of friends. Eventually the Tooth Fairy Guild and her frustration about the matchmaking come up, but they are dealt with much more lightly than could have been. I can see someone else writing this same story but turning it into a nail-biting psychological thriller with the way the guild is after Cory. Baker kept it light enough as to not scare off fantasy readers, but it does add some depth to the world building and plot. The rest of the series promises to be fun, but I might miss Cory doing all the odd jobs. Part of the fun of the book was waiting to see what fairy tale character was going to pop up and ask her to help them next.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fantasy Fans: The premise and world set up provide not only several fairy tale characters, but stars from nursery rhymes, legends and mythology too. It’s a great pick for those who are fans of all things imaginary.
- Purpose Seekers: I know this is a middle grade aimed book, but a lot of Cory’s issues will resonate best with an older audience. And this could backfire. Either this is going to help the person who is trying to figure out their career future or just highlight their own issues. Hopefully, it will help them. Because, really, Cory has it quite tough so it is hard to not feel better seeing her struggles.
- Tentative Thriller Readers: There are those readers who want to read thrillers but are afraid of getting too caught up and tense. This is the perfect medium.
- Romance Fans: There are lots of hopeless romantics even among middle graders. The rest of the series finds Cory embracing her true calling as a matchmaker for those in the fairy tale/legend/myth world. In book two she has to try and help Goldilocks find the perfect match. Of course, so far it reads more like romantic comedy than swoon-worthy romance stuff, but that’s probably best.
Graphic Novel Resource
Fairy tale Comics: Classic Tales Retold by Extraordinary Cartoonists edited by Chris Duffy
A collection of primarily familiar fairy tales told pretty true to the form most people are used to (and minus the gore of the originals). A couple less familiar fairy tales are mixed in, my favorites of those less familiar tales in this book were "The Boy Who Drew Cats" (never heard before and I loved it) and "Give Me the Shudders" (usually called "The Boy Who Left Home to Find out about the Shivers," which I've only come across thanks to the Fairy Tale Theater video series my siblings and I devoured as kids. Each fairy tale had it's own unique art style, but all were kid-friendly in content and style. (Not to say adults won't be able to enjoy this as well.)
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Busy Fairy Tale Fans: If you're looking for a fairy tale collection that is short, sweet, has good variety and will keep kids reading and re-reading, this may very well be an excellent pick.
- Graphic Novel Fans: I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, graphic novels are super popular. All I have to say to get readers for this is that it’s a graphic novel. Now most graphic novel story collections are a real mixed bag of tales, some I love and then some I really could care less for. I felt like this one was a good mix of art style and topics, and I liked all of them. All were enjoyable, and it's always fun to see how authors and illustrators will put their own unique spin on a classic tale.
- Compare/Contrast: Because these are nice and short, but also display unique twists, they make for good compare/contrast specimens when held up against other versions or the originals.
Poetry Resources
Mirror Mirror: a Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer, ill. by Josée Masse
Singer has a second book of reverso fairy tales that's just as good if not better called Follow Follow.
Marilyn Singer has cleverly written poetry about classic fairy tales. The clever part? You read the words down and you get one version of the tale. When the lines are read in the reverse order with only changes in punctuation and capitalization, you get a completely different spin on the story.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fairy Tale Fans: I can’t say enough how clever these poems are. They are fantastic and fit the classic stories very well.
- Point of View: Several of the poems take one perspective while read down, and a different character’s perspective when read up.
- Poetry Fans: Singer’s unique and challenging reverso poetry style needs to be read by all poetry fans.
- Problem Solving/Poetry Writing: English teachers, read this and then challenge your students to write their own. It would be a fun problem solving/composition activity.
Young Adult Fiction Resources
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
This series has four main books, Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter, along with one novelette and a collection of short stories that help fill in the background of certain characters and one rounds off the end of the series nicely. There is a spin-off graphic novel series planned to feature further stories of Iko the robot.
This is by far my favorite fairy tale mashup series, and I’m not alone. There’s a huge fan base for this series at our school with both teens and teachers. It’s so hard to summarize this, but let’s just say there’s a lost princess being hunted by an evil, mind-controlling, alien queen stationed on the Moon who is bent on having all of Earth for her own, though with the rate the plague is sweeping Earth, there may not be much left to rule. Tangled up in this tale are a whole host of characters: a mechanic named Cinder who was in a terrible accident as a child and is now a cyborg young woman, Cinder’s little android friend Iko who always tries to make Cinder’s wishes come true, a prince who’ll soon be Emperor of the Asian region of Earth and is being courted by the lunar queen but is secretly hunting for the lost princess and a cure for the plague ravaging Earth, a girl named Scarlet who always wears a red hoodie and has a grandmother secretly involved in the resistance movement on Earth against the Lunars, a Lunar soldier named Wolf, a girl named Cress who has long hair and is stuck in a satellite all by herself using her computer skills for the Lunar queen, a mercenary space captain named Thorne, Winter is a princess with a pale complexion and likes animals…she’s also the stepdaughter of the Lunar queen…and is quite possibly insane, and lots of other great characters. It’s an exciting, smart science fiction series that is high on action, includes touches of clean romance and nods its head solidly at several fairy tales, but Meyer’s has created a story that is all her own.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Reluctant Readers: When doing short book talks to students, I usually describe this series as a cyborg Cinderella set in a future Asia fighting an alien queen. And that’s usually all it takes. Those who claim they don’t like scifi are drawn in by the promise of a fairy tale and touches of romance. Those who don’t like overly sweet romance get drawn in by the scifi twist and the promise of adventure. Even the most reluctant readers can’t seem to resist, and before they know it, they’ve read about 3,000 pages. (These are massive books. We’re talking 600+ pages each, the size that normally intimidates, but the story draws all readers in so that everyone who picks up book one quickly tears through the rest of the series including every single short story.)
- Fairy Tale Fans: Meyer is quite clever in the various ways she works typical parts of the involved fairy tales into the stories in unexpected ways. I was constantly looking forward to how she’d take the next part and stand it on it’s head.
- Science Fiction Fans: I've always been a scifi fan (I blame my Dad who watched the original Star Trek and Dr. Who), but scifi hasn't been super popular among teens until just recently. Scifi has been making a resurgence of late in our media center, I'm guessing it is a byproduct of dystopia popularity though it might be something else. Either way, I'm quite happy to share the love and I'm thrilled I've been getting more requests for scifi. This has proven most satisfactory for those cravings.
- Clean Young Adult Seekers: I love this series because I have no qualms handing it to anyone. A lot of young adult seems to feel like it has to be gritty to appeal to that audience, but this is solid proof that isn’t the case. There is some violence, because eventually a war breaks out, but it isn’t gratuitous. There’s very, very little swearing, and there’s nothing beyond some kissing.
