Below is a picture I posted on my Instagram account. Everything in the picture is some form of a retelling of a fairy tale- and these were just the things I had at home or could quickly pick up from the library! It’s safe to say fairy tales have a huge impact on our entertainment.
There have been some really creative and fun retellings over the years and both my kids and I love discovering new versions. So I put together a list of all my favorite picture book and chapter book retellings.
Picture Books:
Little Red Gliding Hood by Tara Lazar
My kids loved this book and wanted to read it over and over again. I thought it was such a cute and creative book that I didn’t mind at all! There are appearances of many familiar characters and nods to different fairy tales/nursery rhymes with cute jokes.
Falling for Rapunzel and Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox
In both stories someone keeps misunderstanding the other characters which leads to lots of funny situations. The story has a nice rythmn for reading aloud and kids loving laughing along at all the misunderstandings.
The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas by Tony Wilson
This one has a very refreshing and sweet take on an old fairy tale as a prince decides he doesn’t want to marry a sensitive princess like everyone thinks he should. He uses a packet of frozen peas to figure which girl would actually be a good fit for him.
Goldenlocks and the Three Pirates by April Jones Prince
My son is obsessed with pirates and he loves the story of Goldilocks so this one quickly became a new favorite for us! It’s fun new spin, the illustrations are beautiful, and it didn’t get old after many, many reads.
Since my kids love Goldilocks stories so much I made a whole post dedicated to our Favorite Versions of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Ninja Red Riding Hood, Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks, and The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz
This series was definitely a hit with my ninja loving boy! The text is really fun to read aloud and the illustrations have a comic book feel to them.
The Princess and the Peas by Caryl Hart
A little girl hates peas despite everything her father does to help her try them. She is diagnosed as a princess and is sent to the castle to live, but it doesn’t end up being everything she hoped for. This one is a fun blend of a modern story being influenced by a fairy tale.
Fairytales Gone Wrong series by Steve Smallman
There are many more books in the series beyond what’s pictured here. Each book tells the basic story of the fairy tale and then changes some things about the end to teach a life lesson (hygiene, anger management, healthy eating, etc). My son loved this series and we had a lot of fun reading through all of them together as he learned about some fairy tales he wasn’t familiar with as well as some life lessons.
This is a fun retelling of Cinderella with a girl who loves hockey and dreams of joining a league. Once she’s on it the Blister Sisters and the coach Mrs. Blister aren’t going to make things easy for her!
The Three Little Pigs by Ed Bryan, The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague, and The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist
Three Little Pigs is my kids favorite story of all time and we’ve read every version we’ve found (there’s a lot!). These are three of their favorites. We have an entire list dedicated to all our favorites: Favorite Versions of The Three Little Pigs
The Princess and the Pig by Johnathan Emmett
This is the funny story of a princess and a pig who accidentally swap places as babies. Everyone keeps thinking they know what’s happening as they recognize plots that resemble familiar fairy tales. It was fun to see so many fairy tales pop up as incorrect explanations.
A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale by Penny Parker Klostermann
A boy lives in the land of fairy tales but he loves to cook and pays more attention to that than what happens in the stories. When he comes across some key ingredients from fairy tales (like a shiny apple, pumpkin, and beans) he decides they need some spicing up and he turns them into delicious dishes unaware of how that will effect the stories.
Chapter Books:
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
This is my all-time favorite children’s novel! I have reread it many times and continue to love it dearly. I know there are many others who feel that same love as well! The author has written many other books, most of which are fairy tale retellings. And a prequel of Ella Enchanted called Ogre Enchanted is being released October 2018!
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
This is the first of four books in The Books of Bayern series. I’ve only read the first book, but I thought it was one of the best adaptions of a fairy tale that I’ve seen. The Goose Girl is a lesser known fairy tale, but I’ve read the original and I thought the way the author expanded and filled out the short fairy tale was very impressive and well done. Another retelling I’ve read by the author is Book of a Thousand Days.
The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer which starts with Cinder
Each book in this very popular series focuses on a different fairy tale and is set in a sci-fi future version of the world. The books need to be read in order and they overlap with characters. This is a YA series, but I think it could cross over to a little younger as well. It’s really fun to see all the stories and characters intersect and to see the ways the author found to bring the fairy tales in through creative ways.
What is Hidden by Lauren Skidmore
I loved the setting of a world where everyone wears masks to represent their rank. When the main character’s identity is stolen she must go into hiding as a servant in the palace. The sequels each focus on a different fairy tale as well: What is Lost and The Fairest Poison
The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shuman
I loved the premise in this story of a library that lends out objects from the Grimm fairy tales. I want to work there! I read this book 7 years ago and didn’t realize until now that two sequels have been released: The Wells Bequest and The Poe Estate.
Here are three fairy tale inspired games/toys we have loved as well (click the picture to be taken to Amazon):
I will add more books to this list as I find great ones! You can pin the post to easily revisit it!
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