I loved this retelling of classic fairy tales. I hope the final version has illustrations. That would really enhance the tales.

This delightful collection of familiar fairy tales is told with a fresh voice and enchanting writing!

Including new versions of Snow White, The Frog Prince, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and several others that are less well-known, this book provides a crisp new look at these old tales while still remaining true to the main stories.

While the basic plots remain the same, it's the sparkling dialogue and little inside jokes that make these fairy tales so enjoyable to read and reread.

The lovely illustrations bring the stories to life and give a nod to classic fairy tale illustrators like Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane. I love how elegant the illustrations are!

I especially loved that each fairy tale has some small detail that connects it to the other stories. (For instance, the huntsman who spares Snow White's life is the same huntsman who kills the Big Bad Wolf and cuts Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother out of the wolf's belly. The wood where Hansel and Gretel are lost is the same wood where Snow White meets the seven dwarves.) Although each tale is told in a separate chapter, these little elements make the book feel like a whole, instead of chopped up stories bundled together randomly. I really appreciated that the book flowed beautifully from story to story.

One of the best things about the writing is that it asks some deeper questions of the classic fairy tales and answers them in a new way. (Why did Hansel and Gretel's parents really abandon them in the forest? How could an elegant princess fall in love with a smelly frog? ) The author takes the stories just a little deeper by looking at the roots of the characters' personalities and circumstances, bringing a new light into the fairy tales, but without making them too complex for young readers.

A complete delight to read!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

A collection of some of the more well-known fairy tales, with beautiful illustrations and a rather stilted writing style. I think these stories would be OK for younger middle grade readers, but they lack a lyrical quality that I look for in fairy tales.

Upon reading the Author's note, it appears the stories were intentionally written simply, in a way the author feels is more akin to the tales' oral tradition.

While there's nothing wrong with retelling old fairy tales, I do think that each retelling needs to bring something new to the table. Otherwise, what's the point? This book does try to answer or at least fill in the one plot hole for many of the fairy tales we have come to know well. Is Red Riding Hood super trusting for no reason? Or is there a reason? What's up with Hansel and Gretels step mom?

I really enjoyed the artwork at the beginning of each story and wish there was more throughout the book.

This is an interesting, but not terribly novel, retelling of fairy and folk tales. Like the author, I took classes on the oral tradition of story telling, and thus, like the author, I am well aware, as she points out in her afterward, that these stories were told, and retold, and tweaked with each new telling.

And that is all very well and good, but don't go reading this and hoping for a new, novel view of these classic tales of Little Read Riding Hood, or the Frog Prince, or, Snow White. There is some inside, and humor thrown in, but, as Jenkins points out, it is not her goal to add anything modern to the stories, just to explain some things, such as why step-mothers were cruel, or why fathers were thoughtless.

You might enjoy reading these. I found, although the humor was cute, that I grew boarded with how little she ended up changing things.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I love tales. And these seven fairy tales, are presented as stories, one might tell during story hour. Why did Red believe the wolf was reliable? Did you know Snow White's Mother had two other possible names for her? Why do you think the enchanted frog loved the princess? I like that the writing is creative and provides explanations, answers and alternatives for the tales.