Five Favorite Fairy Tale Adaptations

I love fairy tale retellings! But I'm kind of picky about them. It takes skill to write a good novel, even if you are borrowing the framework for your story from an old story. I've picked up a lot of fairy tell adaptations that are either some kind of weird fable for an agenda I'm not comfortable with, too dark (a good fairy tale should leave you feeling hopeful) or just plain old boring. Much like the food critic Anton Ego in Ratatouille, if I don't like a fairy tale based book, I won't finish. This is a list of books I thought were worth the ink. I genuinely enjoyed them and some of them I have read many times over. Unless otherwise noted, I would be comfortable recommending these books to almost any child 12 or older.

Beauty by Robin McKinley

The story of Beauty and the Beast seems to lend itself to good books. This one is not just a good retelling, but it's one of my all-time favorite books, the kind of book you can read as a child and never outgrow.

Bonus Beauty and the Beast: if you feel like being scared, maybe even terrified, try Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge or Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Cruel Beauty is dark and scary (but has a good ending and characters who exhibit genuine virtue) and Uprooted is scary and rather gory. I would not give either one of these books to children or young teens but I enjoyed them.

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marrilier

This one is based off of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and also weaves in another well-known fairy tale (but I don't want to spoil the plot by naming it). I reread this one recently in the first week after I had Eric and I loved it just as much as I remember from my high school days. Because it's beautifully set in Romania, I couldn't help becoming interested in this country I knew very little about. Later in the winter I read I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys, about Romania under the communist regime. Also excellent!

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Ella Enchanted has always been my favorite retelling of Cinderella. It's targeted at younger children, maybe 8-12, but I still reread it every few years. I think what makes it magical is the fun twist that Ella is under a spell where she has to obey any direct command someone gives her. I love how Ella remains spirited and hopeful in spite of her difficulties.

I've been trying to think of other good Cinderella novels I enjoyed and I can't think of any. Too bad. What's better than a rags to riches story? A couple of years ago I waited a good long time for my hold on Cinder by Marissa Meyer to come up on Libby. I read it, but I wasn't impressed. Cyborg Cinderella is kind of a cool idea, but clearly the book was designed to be stretched out into some sort of money-making YA series. It felt chintzy to me, not written for the sake of a good story.

East by Edith Pattou

This is a retelling of a lesser known fairy tale, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." It's worth a mention. I have to admit our winters get so long here in Alaska that sometimes I can't stand to read books featuring snow and ice and snow palaces. Still, this was a good one. Maybe save it for a hot summer day, though.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver is one of my top ten favorite fiction books. It's loosely based off of Rumpelstiltskin. I would hesitate to recommend this one to children, because it deals with difficult themes of antisemitism that can get pretty intense. Also while there is nothing sexually explicit that I recall, the main character does strike a deal where she exchanges her "marital rights" for answers to her questions. One character presumably sells his soul to a demon (this is in no way portrayed as good). It's an excellent book, but I would recommend it for adults or mature teens.

It's one of those books where I give a sigh of contentment when I read the last sentence. I feel like it's everything a fairy tale retelling should be. Creative, interesting, suspenseful, magical. And most important, triumph of good over evil, and the happily ever after.

I'm sure there are lots more great fairy tale retellings out there that I don't know about -- I am always on the lookout for new ones.