The title alone caught my attention, and then when I saw that this book was written by Jane Yolen, I knew I had to read it!

In an introduction by Marissa Meyer, she writes, "There is a history of tales told and retold that spans centuries--even millennia--and reaches to all corners of the globe."

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale, by Jane Yolen, is a collection of short stories and poems based on familiar fairy tales--but altered in fun, creepy, and imaginative ways. Yolen explains, "A fracture is a break . . . [it] can hurt like a sprain or reveal like a geode being split apart to show the jewels within."

Yolen takes well-known fairy tales and splits them apart, sometimes leaving them still quite familiar and other times shining a light from an unfamiliar angle to reveal new truths and possibilities.

This collection is a perfect choice to read when you have only a few minutes at a time to devote to the book. Read it while you're waiting at the doctor's office, or waiting in line to pick up your kids, or waiting anywhere!

Some of my favorite lines from the book:

"I felled her with a single blow of the fry pan."

"Of course he had the big bran-muffin eyes and the sled-jump nose and the gingko-leaf ears that identify a troll immediately."

"Instead she floated like a swan and the river bore her on."

3,5 stars

I will admit that I have never read anything by Jane Yolen before. But when this cover with that title, I mean how can you pass up How to Fracture a Fairytale as a title, passed me by I knew I had to give it a shot. This book is a collection of short stories Jane Yolen has read over the many years of her career. She is in her seventies. I had no idea.

A lot of these stories have been published in other anthologies before because of various prompts and anthology ideas. This book puts all of the explanation per story in the back. I think it would have done my reading a lot of good had each story had their explanation right after. There were some interesting things to read in there and each explanation came with a poem. Some of those had been published before too. Others were written just for this collection. It just felt weird to have all of the explanations in one go, like a big info dump.

There is a variety of stories in here, all retellings of fairytales or mythologies. Cinderella was however quite a reoccurring one with at least 3 stories based on it. It was fun to see though how each story was twisted a bit. My personal favorite of those three was Cinder Elephant as the main character here was fat. Unfortunately there was also some bodyshaming going on in this story which she does slightly address in her explanation but not enough.

I think what I liked seeing most was how a bunch of the stories had a Jewish character or Jewish influences. Jane Yolen herself is Jewish and I thought that was great to see. One does not often see Jewish characters in fantasy. With that came however some heavy topics like the concentration camps.

I had a large fondness for the story Mama Gone. I suppose that cut into my own mom heart. The emotional feelings along with the rising of a vampire. Of having to say goodbye. But there were also funny bits like the wolves in retirement home and a goat nurse.

Overall I think this is a great collection of short stories and poems to read if you enjoy fairytales. Yolen certainly has her own style and twists she makes. Not every story hit home for me, but what didn’t hit for me will hit for someone else. It is certainly worth the effort. But be aware of some heavy hitting subjects and triggers.

Note: I received a copy of How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am an absolute sucker for a retelling (as noted, in the fact that I participated in #retellathon this year). So, it should go without saying that I jumped at the chance to get an ARC of How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen.

Jane Yolen's name sounded familiar to me, but I'm unaware of any of her works & I'd have to admit that this short-story collection was a fantastic introduction to her writing.

Jane Yolen’s writing is beyond fantastic in each of these fairy tale retellings & with each story, her voice seamlessly changes to blend into the next fairy tale. Some are read in a more modern tone, while others read like the fairy tales that we are familiar with. I’ve also noticed that some of these retellings were based on stories I couldn’t quite place; thankfully, the afterwords dives deep into each story. Jane Yolen’s collection expands from Chinese Folklore to Greek Mythology.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale definitely takes creative license. For example, we get a retelling of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, but instead of hearing it as the troll is the villain, whilst the goats are the victims — we get the bridge’s point of view. Yes, what we might consider as an inanimate object, is actually telling us this story. & plot twist! Those darn goats are the bad guys here.

As Jane Yolen is Jewish, there is quite a bit of Jewish representation here. Although I’m not #ownvoices when it comes to being Jewish, I absolutely adored that this was something that How to Fracture a Fairy Tale contained.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale consists of several stories that stood out, but unfortunately, there were some that hung back in the shadows. My favorites include: Once a Good Man, Cinder Elephant, The Bridge’s Complaint, Happy Dens, and Stepping Sides through Eternity.

Although I’m only rating this book THREE STARS, I definitely understand how this collection can be well loved by others.

I often don't have too much to say about collections such as these, because often their stories are too easily spoiler-able to go into too much detail. What I will say is that this collection goes above and beyond the usual culprits when it comes to fairytale retellings and truly draws from a range of inspirations.

My absolute favourite of the collection is the idea of retelling 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' from the perspective of the bridge. Personal anecdote time! My family used to play this game when I was very little whenever we went out onto the moors. Somewhere there is a picture of tiny Judith about to dash over the bridge, presumably while my mother sang the troll song which I do recall to this day, some eighteen years later. So that story touched a place in my heart. I think that the sheer number of fairytales covered in this collection should ensure that most people have a similar experience.

There are always going to be a mix of stories, some stronger than others, but I would say that, on the whole, there were more stories I enjoyed than stories I didn't - which is pretty much all you can ask for from a compilation.

I think this would make a lovely gift for the fairytale enthusiast in your life (it might be you). What I particularly appreciated was the author's notes at the back of the book, which just gives you a little bit more insight into the background of the story or her own process in writing it. I'm a sucker for reading about backgrounds and inspirations so this was a big selling point for me.

My rating: 3/5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What is there to say except “Jane Yolen wrote it.”? As with all the books of hers that I have read (no, I haven’t read them all), she catches hold of you and pulls you in. Some are traditional in feel, others make me want to go back and explore the originals again so I can try and see how she changes and morphs them about. I enjoyed every one!

Anthologies have always been difficult for me to review, which is why I will rarely request one from Netgalley. How do you rate an anthology? I suppose I took the lazy way out by simply looking into the number of stories that I really enjoyed, and I’d say it was about 3.5/5 of the book, so this gets 3.5 stars.

I will, however, tell you what I loved. In no particular order, I really enjoyed Godmother Death, The Foxwife, Brother Hart, Sule Skerry, The Woman Who Loved a Bear, and Wrestling with Angels. I gasped at the ending of Snow in Summer, teared up at Allerleirauh, felt awe for Slipping Sideways Through Eternity, giggled at The Green Plague, and rooted for the underdog in Sleeping Ugly. I didn’t feel much for the other tales, unfortunately, although none of them are bad.

My absolute favourite has got to be Once a Good Man. It’s a story about, well, a good man, who is allowed a wish from the Lord. He decides that he wants to see heaven and hell. I won’t spoil the end of the story, but I had somehow never heard the original folklore. I see in the notes that this was originally made for a children’s book, and I have to say, I would totally tell my future children this story. I cried, I read it again, and then I read it out loud to my fiancé. It will stay with me a long time.

I’d like to thank Tachyon Publications for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#HowToFractureAFairyTale #Netgalley

I’ve always loved Jane Yolen’s work. This collection of fairy tales retold was excellent. It covers mythology from around the world and puts an entirely new lens on time honored stories. I also enjoyed the poems at the end that went with every story. I look forward to recommending it to anyone in the mythology section, especially since it can be enjoyed by a large age range.

I will start by saying I love fairytales which is why the title How to Fracture a Fairy Tale enticed me. However, I feel like the book was more author notes than it was actual poems or stories of fairytales. I feel like something should have been done to make the poems stand out more especially since this is the first time I have ever heard or read anything from this author.

For my full review check out my blog at https://bookgirlreviewsbooks.blogspot.com

3.5 stars

I've been a fan of Jane Yolen since I was a teenager in the 1970s. I am now (much) older than she was when I first starting reading her. Many of the books and authors I thought were brilliant as a teenager have not held up... this is not the case with Yolen, whose brilliance cannot be mistaken.

Some of these stories are funny, some are sad; some are old friends, some were new to me, but all were wonderful. Yolen is just a treasure, that's all.

I liked the stories, but I had to take a break every couple of stories.
These stories are short and very nice to read

Jane Yolen tackles both well-known and more obscure fairytales in this new book. A new spin on the usual stories makes them new and exciting, though there are a few that fall flat.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I was drawn to this book, because I love Jane Yolen and will always go for the chance to read some of her fairy tales. She has the ability to create such unique perspectives in stories that I just couldn't pass it up. My favorite "fractured fairy tales" in this collection include: a Rumplestiltskin retelling, a Three Billy Goats Gruff retelling from the perspective of the bridge, and a story about Death.

This collection includes stories with poems to go with them and a brief description of Yolen's process for fracturing and reworking the story for herself. I really liked learning the background and history of some of these stories, so I found this fascinating and well worth the read. Anyone who is interested in the writing process will enjoy these additions. However, I did find myself enjoying the stories much more than the poems, but the poems were short enough and fairly interesting that they weren't a great detractor of my enjoyment of the collection overall.

What I most appreciated is how Yolen reworked some of these stories to relate to today's world, and others are just timeless. I found each story to be moving and speak to something universal about our world, which is what fairy tales, at the end of the day, are supposed to be for. As usual with short story collections, some stories spoke to me more than others, but there wasn't any story that I felt was a letdown; I enjoyed them all.

I highly recommend How to Fracture a Fairy Tale to any fan of fairy tales, but I especially see a lot of value in using this as a teaching tool for writing and studying fairy tales.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley for an honest review. While I really enjoy Yolen's writing I found this collection much more hit and miss. Some of the stories I loved. I found the Cinderella re-writes especially interesting. My favorite was The Moon Ribbon. Her use of symbolism and character descriptions always move me. Some of the tails were not as much to my liking, but my favorite thing is at the end of the book she goes into little descriptions of each story. Learning the thought process or the idea that sparked the story is a fascinating to read. And I'm so glad she included these extras.

I was really rather disappointed in How to Fracture a Fairy Tale. I'm a long-time fan of Jane Yolen, so had high hopes, but found this book of short stories and poems very uneven. I hadn't realized when I requested it from NetGalley that it was a compilation of stories from her long career. There were several that I enjoyed very much, but also several that I found rather pointless. Many thanks, nonetheless, to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity to read the advance copy.

Wow. This was a little bit of magic. I am a huge fan of retellings and loved the new perspectives of old fairy tales. I think Granny Rumple might be my favorite. Or Godmother Death. Heck they all were wonderful. I loved how Yolen broke these classic tales and breathed new life into them. I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy so I can read it over and over again for years to come.

Full review will go live on my blog two weeks before the release date.

I liked this a lot! As usual, I rated each story in the collection, and averaging those ratings you get 3.5 stars. I'm rounding that up to 4 stars for the official rating, because some of the ones I rated only one or two stars were super short and so didn't really drag down the collection, plus I like that the book includes some short commentary by Jane Yolen at the end about why she wrote each story and what she chose to change. Honestly, I wish these explanations were longer! I didn't really care about the poetry that was also included with the short commentary, so I wish they'd used that space for more talking about the stories.

As a Jewish fantasy nerd, I love that she fractures some of the fairytales with a Jewish slant (it's always nice to find Jewish representation where you didn't even expect to — although I should have remembered that about Jane Yolen!) Also, from the short commentary in the back, Yolen just seems like a super cool person.

In general, I just think this is a good collection. These retellings sit in that perfect cross-section of twisting without resorting to shock value, and there's a variety of stories, from serious with shades of violence or real societal problems to silly with wordplay or whimsy. I approve, and I should definitely read more Jane Yolen.

This collection of twisted fairy tales was exactly what I was hoping it would be. Unique and inventive with a touch of the stories I've heard retold again and again. There is something to be said for the ability to twist stories so well known and this collection makes it clear why Jane Yolen is considered to be one of the best! I enjoyed both the stories rooted in beloved stories and the ones I had no knowledge of. This is the perfect addition to any fairy tale lover's collection.

I have always enjoyed fairy tales as a child. And last year I tried to read some fairy tales from different places in the world. So I was very curious about this fractured fairy tales. I loved some of them, enjoyed others and a couple fell flat to me (maybe just in comparison). Some of them where so good in the fracturing process that I couldn't recognize the original story behind it. In others the tale behind the story was clear from the title itself but the new twists were fresh and original and clearly directed to a more adult audience than the classic fairy tales.
My favorite ones were The Foxwife, about an angry Japanese student and his mysterious wife, Granny Rumple, a religious take on Rumplestilskin tale, based of the true history of medieval Europe, and Godmother Death, because it's always good to read an origin story different from the others.
The only problem was the one I always find in short stories collections: the level of the stories isn't always the same and the reading experience is like going on a rollercoaster: you can reach incredibly high points, and there the stories are really, really good, and then go down and, in that point, the story is a little bit boring or predictable. Fortunately in this book there were more very few low points.
I really liked Yolen's style, for me it was clear that she had time to hone her craft and that there was so much study behind this process of fracturing classic fairy tales.
I think many readers could enjoy this book, maybe reading one tale at the time instead of all of them together.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fairytale retellings are one of my favorite reads. Finding a collection of it felt like I struck gold. Yolen's How To Fracture a Fairy Tale offers a large variety of fairy tales and folklore, both famous and infamous ones, that make readers reminisce and rediscover their love for old, classic stories.

This is my first time reading Jane Yolen's book and I can honestly say that I am impressed. Overall, the collection is a delightful and entertaining read. Some of them are really fast and short, while others are quite long. It is worth mentioning that in the book's introduction, the author describes her method and creative processes in writing these retellings. I was fascinated that it provided us, readers, a glimpse of how Yolen cleverly created her narratives.

Moreover, it is apparent that the writer really knows how to "fracture" a story. Each story has their own twists which give a feeling of familiarity and newness at the same time. I also like how every story has a different tone and mood as well as writing styles. It almost felt like I've been reading a collection of stories written by different authors. Also, just like the original tales, some of the stories aren't suited for the young audience because they contain dark and mature elements.

I enjoyed reading this book. If you are looking for retellings with dark, unique clever twists, I recommend reading this gem.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!