Whether it be fractured or an innovative retelling, here are some fairytale books for kids and young adults.

Kids

Land of Stories by Chris Colfer

This Glee star is definately multi-talanted. Using his own literary love for fairytales, he has created the Land of Stories. A land where every fairytale has happened once, but rather repeat on an endless loop, they have grown up and continued. That’s what Bailey and Alex find out after they stumble through their grandmother’s book of stories. Yep, their grandmother is the famous Fairy Godmother! And what starts as a regular quest to get back home turns into a whole series of adventures as Alex embraces her fairy powers, and Bailey begins to realize the power of stories and storytelling. A great plus of this is Colfer’s sarcasm and humor throughout the book especially in form of the comedic dumb blonde, Queen Red Riding Hood. Plus it adds some innuendos and references like Machiavello’s The Prince so even older readers can enjoy. He is currently writing a spin off series entitled A Tale of Magic.

Tiara Club by Vivian French

While this is all about becoming the best princess you can be, it’s not so much sewing and needlepoint. These princesses go to a boarding that teaches them how to bake for dragons, win at field days and learn to drive a boat. It’s anachronistic but its a fun series delivering morals on friendship and believing in yourself with a touch of magic.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Another boarding school for dairytales but takes a darker spin on it by exploiting the obvious legacial fears and issues that come with being the child of fairytale characters. Not to mention the expectations of your own fantasies and roles that others expect you to fufill. That’s the main issue between best friends Agatha and Sophie who end up at opposite schools. They believe its a mistake but it seems the Storyteller may be right after all. However, Agatha and Sophies friendship is much stronger than anyone could have predicted and ends up changing the world forever. It’s an epic, twisty, daring series and is becoming a Netflix film soon.

The Heroe’s Guide to Saving your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

This a funnier take on fairytales, from the point of view of the Prince Charmings. And how their reputations take a bit of nosedive compared to their princesses, and that their happily ever afters aren’t secure as they thought. I enjoy the humor within the series, and the character developement that steadily grows in the trilogy. I also appreciate how he chooses to make each prince’s kingdom distinct, even pulling from Viking Nords for Prince Gustav’s land compared to Prince Liam’s Meditterean style kingdom and Prince Fredrick’s more traditional European one.

Half Upon a Time by James Riley

Another grand fractured fairytale where Jack, a squire in training, ends up helping a modern girl, April transplated to this fairytale land after she finds out her grandmother is the famous Snow White. While April is convinced she’s hit her head and tries sort out this crazy world, Jack is trying to figure out why is he even bothering to stand by this “odd” (for his world) chick. But it’s more interesting than his night training drills so he carries on, and. . . well there’s more danger and red herrings than they first thought. This has great humor again, especially as it introduces the power of sarcasm within the text in an exchange with Rumplestilksin no less. Great fun.

Whatever After by Sarah Mylowski

This lower grade series of fractured fairytales has a classic premise of two mdoern day kids transplated to their favorite fairytale stories thanks to a magic mirror. This is a more modern take as Abby accidentally encourages the princesses to take happily ever after by their own two hands, ruining the fairytale much to Jonah’s charign. So they scramble to fix it. A cute series for any fairytale lovers.

Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine

Levine takes on lesser known stories like in the The Fairy’s Mistake. I completely forgot the original story’s name, but it begins when a fairy godmother blesses two sisters with a gift and a curse. One girl pours out jewels for being a good person. A gift that is a curse when she becomes prey to a golddigging prince. The other uses her curse of snakes and bugs pouring out of her mouth to extort money from people. Cool, right? That one is my favorite story, but she has done others like a variation of The Princess and the Pea, Cinderella and more.

Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson

This is for fans of Disney, and Disney Parks following the titular Kingdom Keeprs. teens who become holographic guides to the Magic Kingdom’s various parks. However, it’s not all fun and games as the villains come alive at night, determined to take over the world. Also I can’t forget the magical twins. Yes, there are magical twins, one destined for good, and one who seems to be evil. It’s a cool series with a fantastical concept and plenty of cameos.

Grounded by Megan Morrison

At first it seems a ripoff of Tangled with a wisecracking rogue and Rapunzel being handy with a weapon. But Morrison manages to put her own mark on it by imagining the thief to be Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk, giving him a family and backstory. Whilst Rapunzel’s relationship with her “mother” and the reasoning behind it. . . it’s an interesting twist. Worth at least one read.

Grimmtastic Girls by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

I already mentioned Holub/Williams’ Goddess Girls book series which follows preteen versions of the famous gods/goddesses in a semi-anachronistic middle school. This follows pretty much the same premise with fairytale characters instead of Greek mythology but the duo manages to keep things fresh with different character archtypes and playing around with the fairytale retellings, using a combination of the original tales alongside some sanitized Disney touches that people will be familiar with. I especially liked their take on the Snow Queen in Snowflake Freezes Up, that harkens back to the original Hans Christian Anderson tale instead of the now famous Disney Frozen. I even enjoyed their take on Goldilocks adding more depth to the breaking and entering character by asking questions of destiny and morality. Plus it has an engaging longterm story arc in the form of a League of Villains that seek to take over the kingdom which the girls must team up and suss out who’s an ally and who’s an enemy as they try to earn their happily ever afters.

YA

Once Upon a Time

This is a lovely series with various authors taking on their own versions of famous fairytales, often giving them more depth like Wild Orchid (Mulan) or interesting twists The Storyteller’s Daughter (1001 Nights). It also tackles lesser known fairytales like Spirited combining The Last of the Mohicans with Beauty and the Beast and Sunlight and Show retells the Magic Flute.

For darker retellings, I suggest Alex Finn’s stories like Beastly and Towering.

Entwined by Heather Dixon

This a lovely novel centering on the the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Firstly I enjoy the romantic, lush atmosphere that imbues the story, making it really feel like a fairytale. Each of the girls are named after flowers, with Azalea being the oldest and the protagonist (it helps that they’re also alphabetically). As an only child, I enjoyed the sisterly bond between the girls, each having their own personality and development. In the year of mourning, their father forbids any dancing which makes sense as it is mourning but they cannot live by this. What is enjoyable about Azalea is that unlike other princesses (or other YA heroines in general) her hero is not the convenient love interest. In fact she recognizes the convenient love interest as the creep he is. Making way for the real love interest. But I’m getting ahead of myself because it isn’t about the romantic subplot but about family, what to do when someone you love is gone, and how the grief consumes even at the expense of those living relatives who also care for you. Also as there are multiple sisters, you can relate to any one of them but I will say Azalea, Bramble and Clover get the most depth as the three oldest. It’s a lovely tale and well worth reading.

The Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujor

This is a fantastical tale following three girls, Jade, Opal and Amber who meet on the day of their 14th birthday by their guardians. There they discover their destiny to overthrow the invisible, Fairytale Realm’s Council of Twelve with its Army of Darkness. Not only does the world depend on them but in the real world, an infirmed girl sees visions of their quest and is inspired to fight for her life. Also what is most impressive of this magical tale is that Flavia wrote this when she was 13.

Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

This sci-fi, steampunk fairytale series set on the moon gives these princesses unique backstories and cybernetic arms. With a Chinese-inspired world and emphasis on the intrigue and resistance on the outer fridges of the Lunar world, it also feels a bit like Star Wars. My favorite novels in the series is the prequel Fairest. But I do enjoy Heartless a lot too. Perfect for anyone who wants a deeper, full realized world and more diverse characters.