Fairy Tale Books for Boys

I've been gone travelling, so I've not posted for quite a while.  I didn't get as many new books read and I thought, but it was a good thing.  I finally got my boys into the Sisters Grimm series.  I made them listen to the first book in the car and they were hooked.

I've got a book I read a while ago and should have blogged about before this and a new book to blog about, too.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

I had looked at this book when if first came out and dismissed it as a book that could be good, but I didn't want to read.  Quite a while ago, I needed and audio book for a trip, so I picked it up hoping my boys wouldn't complain.  Boy did they love it!

The main characters, Hansel and Gretel, are followed through their Grimm tale.  But then, they are also the characters in other Grimm tales.  It's like one long story but I could recognize some of the tales they were in.  It was a very clever idea and done very well.  This is a great book for boys.  The narrator warns you that the Grimm tales used in the book are not cuddly, Disney fairy tales.  They are the genuine gruesome Grimm fairly tales.  The narrator also pauses throughout the book to warn the reader that a very scary, or graphic, or bloody scene is coming up, so anyone with young siblings listening should make sure they leave the room.  My boys absolutely loved this.  I've written before about how much I think kids can benefit from fairy tale adventures, so I won't go on about that.  I'm thankful this book exists and gives boys (and girls, too) a great option for a fairy tale adventure.



The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

I just finished this new book.  I loved it!!!!! The bards have entertained us all with the tales of Prince Charming and Cinderella, Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming and Rapunzel, and Prince Charming and Snow White. If you ask the Sisters Grimm {Buckley} they are all the same guy, but here, they are four different princes.  The bards didn't have the decency to include the princes' names in the stories!  We are introduced to each prince and his story (after the bard's story).  They are not the Charmings you may have thought they were, and the princesses may not be the ladies you thought they were.  Through magic luck, or coincidence, the four princes find themselves together and together try to save the kingdom from a witch who's also miffed about the inaccuracy of  a bard's tale.  This story is full of adventure, humor, and the meaning of friendship.  I kept trying to think how I could describe this book.  I think the best way I can do that is to say it's like The Princess Bride (movie at least).  It has real action and suspense, but it also have some really spoofy humor that fits right in with the story.  The book also contains wonderful illustrations most presented as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. to help elucidate the handbook.  I really really enjoyed this book.  It ended with the opportunity for more to come, and I sure hope there is.  This is a book that should not be missed.

The Sisters Grimm Make Me Grin

The Sisters Grimm Series by Michael Buckley

I absolutely love this series.  No one I have ever recommended it to has not liked it--kids and adults alike.  The ninth and final book of this series came out today, so those who haven't discovered this series yet, you won't have to deal with the suspense that plagued current readers.  There are some real cliffhangers.

The series is about two sisters who don't know they are related to the famous Brothers Grimm.  There parents are missing and they've been moving from one disastrous foster house to another, until their grandma (who they never knew existed) comes to bring the girls home with her to Ferryport.  The sisters (Sabrina and Daphne) learn that all the fairy tale creatures are real, and were trapped in Ferryport to prevent a war between them and the humans.  That is, they are trapped in Fairyport as long as a Grimm descendant lives...

Each book has it's own adventure and conclusion while there is an overall story arc of finding their missing parents.  It's fun to see the personalities and occupations Buckley gives to different fairy tale characters.  These books have exciting plots, humor, suspense, and surprises.  It has two strong girl characters, which makes this series unique, and all the better.  You've got to read this series.

(I actually put the first book down after the first chapter or so, but later picked it up and I'm so glad I did.  If you feel the same as I did, just keep reading!!)

The Sisters Grimm Makes Me Grin

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
Booker...
I love LOVE love this series.  When I was shelving at work several years ago, I noticed a book that had a cloth cover--truly a trade cloth cover.  So, I picked it up and looked at it.  It was about two sisters whose parents vanished in a bazaar accident.  They are sent to live with a grandmother they knew nothing of and learn from her they are related to the Brothers Grimm, who did not record folktales, but recorded historical events people became to believe were fanciful tales.  After trouble between humans and the Everafters (fairy tale characters), the Brothers Grimm hoped to avoid a war by trapping the Everafters in Ferryport, where they must stay until there are no Grimm descendants living in the town.  This makes some Everafters quite upset with the Grimm Family, but the Grimms do still have some friends in the Everafter population.

Each book has it's own story and mysteries the sisters must face while the overall mystery of what happened to their parents continues and intensifies throughout each book.  I started to read the first one, then put it down and didn't pick it up again for a long time.  I found the orphanage lady annoying, but afterwards, I realized she's not a big part of the story, so if you feel the same way as I did just keep going....it's gets great!!!  While the books have a seamless overall story arc, each book has it's own uniqueness.  One book has a court room drama, one has time travel, another is like a war novel, and one is like the twilight zone!  I was hoping the final book in the series, book #9, would be out this month, but I've got no word at work when it is due out.

Samantha and Daphne are strong girl characters.  (Goal accomplished by Michael Buckley, who said at a talk I attended it seemed to him all girl characters were either rescued by a prince or own a horse.)  The other characters in this series are extremely likeable.  I also found it so fun to see what Mr. Buckley would do with different fairy tale characters.  As an example, one of the three little pigs who wasn't good at construction like his brothers, went into law enforcement and Snow White teaches self-defense classes.  Can you guess what occupation Prince Charming might have or Robin Hood?  There are so many twists and surprises throughout the series.  You never know what's going to happen!!  No one I have recommended this series to has come back to me without rave reviews.  You've just got to read this series.  The audio editions of the books are also very good.

All Hail Shannon Hale

THE GOOSE GIRL by Shannon Hale

Booker...

I haven't read a book by Shannon Hale that I didn't like.  I loved her extrapolation of the Grimm's fairy tale, The Goose Girl.  It's one of their more gruesome tales, and I was intrigued when I saw Hale's teen book, The Goose Girl.  I wondered what kind of a story someone could make from that tale.  Hale does a great job of seamlessly including so much of the true tale into her story and yet creates a brand new and satisfying story.  Hale's story has such likeable characters and equally devious villains.  There is adventure, self-discovery, a budding romance, and characters choosing to do what is morally right.  What more could you want?  Maybe a few more like this one?  Well, Hale supplies that, too.  There is now a series based on the characters and kingdom from the The Goose Girl.  The second book in the Books of Bayern Series, Enna Burning is quite a bit darker than The Goose Girl, but still and interesting tale.  River Secrets is the third book.  I love Razo, who is the main character in this book--another great story.  I have yet to read Forest Born, the fourth book focusing on Razo's sister.  

    

Hale earned a Newbery Honor Award for Princess Academy.  I also enjoyed this book.  The people on Mount Eskel work tirelessly, but live in relative poverty compared to most citizens in the kingdom.  Things change on Mount Eskel when it is announced that the prince's new wife will be found among the eligible ladies of Mount Eskel.  Miri and many others are forced to attend the princess academy (usually a formality in most provinces but desperately needed to prepare Mount Eskel girls for the role of princess).  Miri faces difficult challenges including a tyrannical headmistress, shunning from her peers, and determining her own heart.  This book also includes more of the speaking-with-nature theme found in the Books of Bayern.

Hale has another teen book which is a retelling or expansion of the tale A Book of a Thousand Days.  I have not read this teen book, but I know it is about a princess who is a tower and afraid to meet her suitors, so she insists her maid/lady-in-waiting impersonate her before a suitor with unforeseen consequences.  Shannon Hale has also written a new series of graphic novels about Rapunzel and some women's fiction books.  Austenland is one of them.  It is pictured above.  Clicking on any of the pictures will take you to a description and place to order the book if you'd like to find out more.

Regina Doman Can Really Retell a Fairy Tale

SHADOW OF THE BEAR     and       BLACK AS NIGHT    by Regina Doman

Booker...
A friend of mine knew I loved retold fairy tales, so she recommended this book series to me.  I am so glad she did; I LOVE these books!!  I have only read the first two in this series.  (Regina Doman has two other retold fairy tales, Midnight Dancers and Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves.)

Shadow of the Bear is a retelling of the Grimms' fairytale Snow White and Rose Red.  In the Grimm tale, a widow and her two daughters are visited by a bear, who is actually a prince.  In Regina Doman's retelling, Bear enters the lives of the Blanche, Rose, and their mother by accident, but soon becomes a regular visitor.  Blanche is unsure of this possible drug dealer, but the girls enjoy their evenings discussing classic literature and poetry with Bear.  But Blanche feels sure Bear has something black in his past.  Shopping the thrift stores for a prom dress for Rose, the girls spy Bear with an expensive Chalice at an antique dealer.  There investigation leads to a kidnappings and near death.  Though things are not what they seemed, a prince may still hide under a Bear's skin.

In Black as Night, Bear has gone on a trip to Europe while Blanche is working as a hostess at a banquet hall to pay for nursing classes at the community college.  Blanche has also been volunteering at the nursing home and visiting the sick and elderly.  Blanche goes into hiding and her family finds out she has been accussed of embezalment and drug dealing.  Bear wonders if people from his past have put Blanche in harms way, and if she is even still alive.  We know Blanche is safe with seven friars.  But Blanche isn't sharing any information with the friars, not even her real name.  Blanche isn't sure if people are really out to get her or if she's going crazy.  Can the seven friars keep her safe?  Will her prince come through?  Will she make it on her own? 

Lots of thought provoking action and suspense await readers in both of these books.  I thought the stories were excellent.  These are teen level books.  In Shadow of the Bear, Rose puts herself in a bad situation with a boy and has to escape out a bathroom window.  The evening discussion of poetry may be a little hard to follow for younger readers.  I thought it was refreshing and opened my eyes to some things I went and looked up to read.  I am extremely eager to read the third book.  Many characters in these books are Catholic; however, I don't think these books are exclusively for Catholics.  There's no sermonizing or anything in the stories that would turn-off non-Catholics or even non-religous readers. 

You can purchase this series for a discoutned price at  http://www.fiatcatholicbooks.com/  There is also a link at the top of this website.