McKinley's: Spindle's End

This nap inducing retelling of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty takes us through 21 long years of the well-known cursed princess' life. The original, very simple, tale is drawn out here with long explanations of repeated foreshadowings and roundabout recollections in very long convoluted paragraphs filled with never-ending sentences. Lengthy chapters sprinkled with uncommon words seem to end randomly at times. Characters are often plagued by foggy memories and extended dreamlike experiences sometimes clouding what little action there is. For those who like magic, McKinley's Spindle's End certainly is crammed with it, but "magic can't do everything." It did however help McKinley give us an uncommon but expected ending to the classic tale.

Hale's: Rapunzel's Revenge

Shannon and Dean Hale turn Rapunzel, damsel in distress, into Rapunzel, action hero with illustrator Nathan Hale. Presented in graphic novel format, Rapunzel teams with Jack of beanstock fame to take down the evil witch who destroyed the land of Gothel's Reach. This volume told in four parts is packed with action and adventure, just enough backstory, and high quality full color comic book style illustrations.

Napoli's: The Prince of the Pond

Donna Jo Napoli has created more than a fairy tale revisitation in The Prince of the Pond; she may have created a whole science lesson on frogs and pond life. I definitely learned a few things about frogs I did not know before. The Frog Prince in this version needs to be taught the ways of a frog through the voice of a female frog friend. It is very easy to separate factual elements from fiction and will inevitably lead to discussions of such as well as issues brought up in the story: life cycle, food web, survival, fertilization. This is definitely a good choice for 2nd and 3rd grade read-alouds.

Flinn's: Beastly

Alex Flinn updates the Beauty and the Beast tale in her novel Beastly. Told in first person from the perspective of Kyle, the teenaged beast living in modern day Manhattan, this version is replete with spoiled not-so-intelligent vindictive teenagers attending private school, high school parties lacking any adult supervision, and magic. Flinn gives her main characters typical teen novel neglectful parents, one, an abusive father addicted to drugs. The present day setting for this version may help to catch the reluctant teen reader's attention. Flinn matter-of-factly inserts a few recognizable minor characters into a chatroom subplot: a frog, a mermaid, a grizzly bear, Snow White ("not that Snow White" (?)), and Rose Red (not that Rose Red?). The chatroom conversations work somewhat as book part interludes despite my biggest nagging question concerning how a mermaid is able to type on a computer. Once I had just decided to let it go, the chatroom characters start questioning each other's access to the internet. The mermaid had conveniently left the chat before that conversation. In an author's note, Flinn ironically goes on to describe her motivation for rewriting fairy tales as the need to resolve "inconsistencies in the traditional tales." Note: this title is not in CLC's library.

McKinley's: Beauty

A first person account of the tale of Beauty and the Beast from the perspective of the muddy hazel eyes of the title character Beauty. In other retellings, this tale is about the transformation of Beast; this take focuses on the physical, emotional, and mental changes of Beauty as she grows to love Beast. Gentle, kind, and noble fully-developed characters populate Robin Mckinley's graceful world. McKinley delicately weaves magic into the story effortlessly with such aplomb that it seems almost a part of the natural world. She is deftly able to build and release tension as well as provide a few laugh out loud moments from Beauty's two enchanted chamber maids. I look forward to reading other titles from this author.

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Avi's: The Book without Words

I chose this book to read for two reasons: the title intrigued me, and Avi is a Newbery Medal winning author. There weren't a great many words in the story, but perhaps more than one might expect with a book of such a title. None of the words were very difficult to read but then none of the words were very interesting either. This book might prove that not every piece an awarding winning author writes is of award winning quality. Very little happens in the first 100 pages (of the 200 page edition) to the handful of characters in the story. Very shallow characters in a somewhat claustrophobic setting in an ultimately predictable plot gave this reader not much to recommend in this book except a quick easy read. A race is on to read a book of magic which can only be read by those with green eyes. A group of green-eyed children try to decipher the contents of the book for different reasons before an evil wizard completes a series of spells making him immortal by taking the life of his innocent young assistant.

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