Our middle grade book spotlight this week is on books that are all about fairy tale retellings! These are stories that have been inspired by books that are considered to be fairy tales that have been written in the past and are now used as inspiration for newer books. Some follow the storylines pretty consistently while others completely turn the story on its head with role reversals, different points of view, settings, or even introducing elements such as science fiction and fantasy. Some of them may be from fairy tale titles that you have heard of before while others may be completely new to you and now you may feel the need to go back to the original source material and read that version as well. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthfairytaleretelling as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new middle grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Flunked by Jen Calonita--When petty thief Gilly, who lives with five younger brothers and sisters in a run-down boot, gets caught stealing, she is sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School, where all of the teachers are former villains, including the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother.
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson--Twelve-year-old Marinka lives in a house that wanders around on chicken legs with her grandmother, a Yaga, who guides the dead to the afterlife and is training Marinka to be a Yaga too. But all Marinka wants is a friend. So when Marinka finds a possible friend, she's so excited that she breaks her grandmother's rules--causing her grandmother to disappear. Now it's up to Marinka to journey to the afterlife and find her grandmother before it's too late.
Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff--Followed by a wolf, a huntsman, and a porridge-sampling nuisance called Goldie, Red embarks on a quest to find a magical cure for her ailing grandmother.
Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke--Jack is probably the only kid in the world who dreads the arrival of summer. Summertime is when his single mother takes a second job, leaving Jack at home to take care of Maddy, his autistic kid sister. It's a lot of responsibility, but it is also boring, because Maddy never talks. However, this summer is different. While walking through a flea market, Maddy tells Jack to trade their mother's car for a box of mysterious seeds. What a wonderful mistake! What begins as a normal little garden grows up into a magical jungle, with pink pumpkins that bite and little onion babies running free everywhere! One moonlit night, a dragon even shows up …
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz--This is not your typical bedtime story. The dark tale begins when Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other lesser-known Grimm fairy tales in search of a new family after their father betrays them. The siblings' harrowing adventure is fraught with enemies and they must escape one dangerous situation after another, but eventually Hansel and Gretel create their own happy ending.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine--In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.