A Continuing Trend

Over the last few years I have noticed a number of young adult books where the author has taken classic fairy tales and folktales or works of literature and retold, updated, or found a new slant. Three of the new books we prepared for check-put this week fit in this new trend.

Belle, by Cameron Dokey, is from the Once Upon a Time series where classic fairy tales are retold. Belle, of course, is the story of Beauty and the Beast. Not the Disney version, but a beautifully told romance about true love.

Birdwing, by Rafe Martin, is a continuation of the Grimm fairy tale "The Six Swans." The tale tells of six brothers transformed into swans and how their sister has to remain silent and sew six shirts to change her brothers back. The spell was broken except for the youngest brother who remained with one arm enchanted as a wing forever. Martin's story tells what happened to this brother after the end of the fairy tale.

Enter Three Witches, by Caroline B. Cooney, is a different view of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Creating a minor character, Lady Mary, Cooney tells the murder of the King of Scotland and the rise to kingship of Macbeth from the sidelines. Each chapter begins with a quotation from the play.

If you are interested in these retold fairy tales or works of literature, you can get a list from the Lakeview IPAC by typing "Based on Fairy Tales of Legends" or "Based on Works of Literature" and searching them as a subject. Lakeview has quite a nice collection.