Five Great Retold Fairy Tale

With one day to go until the release of THE GLASS STILETTO, I thought I would post on the fairy tale retellings that are some of my personal favorites  – which were very hard to choose:

1. Ever After (movie) with Drew Barrymore and Angelica Huston
   

For many girls and women today, the damsel in distress idea doesn’t go down well.  Drew Barrymore brings to the screen a strong, bright and independent Cinderella who captivates her prince with her wisdom and outwits her stepfamily by being her best self always.

2. Wicked: The Life and  Times of the Wicked Witch of the West written by Gregory Macguire & Wicked: The Musical

The dark narrative of Gregory Macguire’s book is quite different from the hopeful and ultimately happy story of the musical yet both give us views of two of the worlds most famous witches that are lingering and timeless.  Also, giving the Wicked Witch a first name, Elphaba, and choosing it in a similar manner as how Frank Baum created Oz is particularly wonderful.

3. The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, written by Francesca Lia Block

Block knows her fairytales (her Weezie Bat is considered by many to be a modern fairytale) and it is clear in these nine retellings that she loves them as well.  She includes the ever popular Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, but also manages a new tale for Thumbelina and others. She beautifully manages a magical mix of the fairy realm and the contemporary world.  Also look for her “non-fiction” book Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur: A Mythological Dating Guide.  

4. Once Upon a Time  -and- Grimm, current television series

In Once Upon a Time the characters of fairy tale live under a curse that has trapped them in our non-magical realm. In Grimm an unsuspecting (and really cute!) cop finds he is the last of the line of hunters who kept our world safe from the monsters of what he thought was myth.  In both, our main character have to come to terms with accepting that magic is not as far away as originally thought, and that destiny cannot be denied.

5. Sydney White (movie) with Amanda Bynes and Sara Paxton
   
     Okay, this one actually is Disney and a beautiful and funny modern retelling of Snow White.  At college Sydney ends up living in a small house with seven geeks after leaving the rarified air of an elitist sorority and their queen, Rachel Witchburn.  When they managed to get even the poisoned apple into this contemporary tale – I was hooked.