Off With Their Heads

Off With Their Heads by Zoe Hana Mikuta

The characters from Wonderland inhabit a fantasy world in a prequel to Alice and Wonderland. The idea has potential, but the execution is needlessly vulgar and complicated. 

The Deathly Grimm

The Deathly Grimm by Kathryn Purdie

The second book in the series has the story continue on quests. The authorities in the land feel that they must have done something wrong because they were able to escape. They end up going back into the forest and fighting more battles. I got a bit lost with this one. There was some interesting Rumplestiltskin family. Or maybe that was the previous book. It blurs a bit.

The Forest Grimm

The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie

The protagonist wants to win a lottery to be able to go into the forest to find her mother. However, somebody else wins. She uses her map to help him. As they travel, they find various people from their town that have lost their mind and live like fairy tale characters. For instance, somebody is Rapunzel and tries to trap them with hair. There is a ghost boy they go along with and same scary encounters with others such as Hansel and Gretel. They eventually find mother in fairy tale form and do actions to save themselves. It has all the typical modern young adult fantasy values and tropes, but is a bit better than typical books in the genre.

Jack and the Beanstalk (Silver Penny Stories)

Jack and the Beanstalk (Silver Penny Stories) Told by Diane Namm,  illustrated by Maurizio Quarello

This retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk is fairly faithful to what I remember of the story. Jack gets the magic beans, they are discarded, but end up making a great beanstalk. He climbs up to the sky, and with the help of the giant's wife, is hidden away. He grabs the gold and ets away. After the gold runs out, he goes back and gets the golden goose. This time he chops down the beanstalk and the giant disappears. Why was the giant's wife so nice to him - especially the second time around when she knew the gold disappeared?

The Inside Story: The Sisters Grimm, Book 8

The Inside Story: The Sisters Grimm, Book 8 by Michael Buckley

The Grimm sisters are now in a book of fairy tales to try to find their baby brother and hunt down Pinocchio. At first, they see themselves in the Wizard of Oz. One is Dorothy, while the other is Toto. They are expected to recite the lines in the story and follow the plot. The other characters want this to happen, for otherwise, the editor will get mad and the revisors will be after them. They also see other characters who are eager to escape out of their roles in stories. The Grimm sisters, however, are keen on continuing their quest, and don't want to follow the rules. This gets them in trouble. They get taken to see the editor who wants the to help find Pinocchio, who is causing mayhem in his quest for change. The girls are glad to help out. Their parents and granny do show up, but things still get worse. Their is a first kiss and the book ends on a cliffhanger.  The multiple levels of stories works well hear and makes it a fun book. 

The Everafter War: The Sisters Grimm, Book 7

The Everafter War: The Sisters Grimm, Book 7 by Michael Buckley

This book is aptly title. A war breaks out in the Everafter land. The Grimm Sisters parents are back. They also discover that their mother was pregnant. However, the baby continued growing while their parents were asleep. Some everafters use magic to birth the baby without mother knowing. They have kidnapped the baby to use for their means. They also find out that the Mirror is the leader of the Scarlet Hand. The Mirror wants to use the body of the baby to escape fairy tale land. This ties into the "book of all books" that has all tales. They can go in and change some of the outcomes. This seems like something that will be used in future books. This book feels more plot-heavy than previous ones.

Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime

Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley

In this book, the sisters spend time in New York City to help solve a crime. Their adventures include finding dwarves that hang out in the abandoned  City Hall subway station, They find out more about their parents while also helping Puck and battling the Scarlet Hand.

The Fairy-Tale Detectives: The Sisters Grimm book 1

The Fairy-Tale Detectives: The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

This book seemed very familiar. Then I realized I had read it a year ago. Two girls are orphaned and end up in very cruel fost families. Then they end up in a fairy tale land. The fairy tale characters are all there, but have different identities. Sometimes they come out - as the police may switch to their big form when they see food opportunities. The girls are thrown in to a detective case to try to find their grandma. There are a number of twists and turns connected to the involvement of Jack, Giants and Prince Charming. They use bits of fairy tale magic at times (including infiltration of a fairy tale ball.) The story has echos of Roald Dahl and feels like it must have been as fun to write as it is to read.

The Emperor's New Poodle

The Emperor's New Poodle by Liza Charlesworth, illustrated by Kelly Kennedy

In this version of The Emperor's New Clothes, the emperor gets bilked into buying an invisible dogs. He is told that only fools cannot see it, so everyone tries to pretend they see it. Then in a parade, a poor girl is the only one to identify the dog as non-existent. The emperor likes her dog, and then learns he can get a dog he likes at the animal shelter. They live happily ever after. This ending is quite different than the real one. It is nicely told, but the changes to the original feel excessive.

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley

This is an alternate version of the original fairy tale with the focus on the "sequel". The miller's daughter is promised the king's hand in marriage if she can spin all the straw into gold. When Rumpelstiltskin offers to help in return for her firstborn, she says she would rather marry him instead of the king. They go off and get married and live "happily ever after". They have a daughter and occasionally spin some gold and send the girl to buy things in town. The king catches on and wants her to spin gold. She says she will try to remember what her "dead grandpa" did to make gold. She says he probably grew it. The king goes about giving the farmers gold to help them grow crops. They do so and thrive, willingly giving the king some of their produce. But there is no gold. The girl tries to remember the way and thinks that maybe they knitted instead. The king gives gold and material to grannies to knit. The country is all well clothed and give plenty of gifts to the king. Soon the king realizes that a happy kingdom is better than gold accumulation. He offers to marry the girl. Instead she chooses to become prime minister instead. It is a positive message of the benefit of service rather than accumulating wealth.

The Elephants and the Shirtmaker

The Elephants and the Shirtmaker by Liza Charlesworth, illustrated by Doug Jones

A shirtmaker is down on his luck and only has a few scraps of traffic. He leaves it out at night and wakes in the morning to find a shirt fully sewn. He buys more fabric, and each morning finds shirts made. There are some clues as to who did it : hay and peanuts. One day, the elephants are scared of a mouse and wake the shirtmakers. They see the elephants and their ratty shirts. They make nice shirts for them and thank them for their work and let them know they are doing well enough on their own now. It is a fun fairy tale I have not heard often before.

Little Red Riding Hood (Favorite Fairy Tales)

Little Red Riding Hood (Favorite Fairy Tales) by Rochelle Larkin (Retold) (Author), Alan Leiner (Illustrator)

The illustrations in this book are bright and simple. That is the best thing it has going for it. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood has a happy ending. Instead of eating the grandmother, the wolf just puts her in the closet. Then a hunter comes to rescue Little Red Riding Hood and the Grandma when they screen. Doesn't this defeat the moral of the story?

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

Two twins have different experiences in school. The girl is the model student. The boy always falls asleep. Their dad is now gone. Their mom got called into work on their birthday. Luckily, their grandmother comes in from her travels for the day and their birthday ends up better. She also gives them a special book that she has used to read the kids stories.

The book ends up being magical. The girl drops things into it and they disappear. It glows. Then they end up falling into the book and end up in the world of fairy tales. They find the real life of the fairy tale characters. They also need to figure out how to get out.

The premise is great, though it does go on for a while. The "study" of fairy tales in their real world class is also a nice touch.

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

Disney's Frozen originated as an adaptation of Snow Queen, but then drifted significantly. In this original novella, an evil troll creates a glass which distorts everything so only the bad is viewed. Fragments of this fall all over the world. One boy gets the shard in his heart and eye. He becomes cruel. Later he disappears with the snow queen who makes him forget about his past. The others go on adventures. Then in the end, his sister is able to melt his shard with love and return him back to normal. There are plenty of elements that were adopted by Disney, but this story is more complex.

Fifty Famous Fairy Tales

Classic fairy tales are quite different from modern stories. Today they are "children's stories." This may be more due to the short and simple nature than the actual content. There is plenty of violence in these stories. There are also mixed messages. In some, the protagonist does something stupid, but through cunning escapes the consequences. In others, they face the consequences of the stupid actions. Do these stories depict the values of past times? Or are they just entertaining stories? 

Superficial looks and wealth also are more important. Beauty does fall in love with beast - but after that, he turns back into a prince. In Puss and Boots, through cunning, the cat helps his master to pass as a wealthy prince. However, in Princess and the Pea, a "real princess" has unique characteristics that allow her to be identified. Are royals different? Or are they just normal people that stumbled into a good condition in life? 

These stories do come from many different sources. Perhaps some of the differences are a result of their different origins. Or perhaps they are all just sources of entertainment.

Popular Tales from the Norse

Librivox can be hit or miss, even in a single book. Some "tales" in this collection were read with such thick accents I could barely understand them. Others had way to much "enthusiasm." There were even a few that were done really well. There were many short tales - some that seemed to have more space dedicated to the "librivox introduction" than to the actual tales. But, that is enough about the narration.

The book starts out with a long introduction. Then it jumps into a large number of Norse tales. Then we get a bonus West Indian tales featuring Anansi. (Scandinavia and the Caribbean. Uh, yeah, I see the connection.)

Some of the tales have been popularized (albeit in somewhat different forms) by Disney movies. Others seem to be half complete. There are plenty were the humble guy gets a great advantage by his smarts. There is also a good deal of supernatural behavior.

One tale had a man sell his soul to the Devil, then trick the Devil out of taking it. Since he was not a good guy, he was left without a place to leave and had to sneak into Heaven. The moral? Uh, not sure. But it is an interesting yarn.

While there are some moralizing, it seems that many of the tales are primarily for entertainment. Some are good, while some are bad. This collection would be better skimmed in print than listened to on audiobook.