A Tuesday Ten: 2015 Fractured Fairytales

Fractured fairy tales are nothing new, and there are many of them published every year, but here’s ten from the 2015 pub year!

1.

Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison (Arthur A. Levine Books, April 2015)

This story takes on the tale of Rapunzel with a rather interesting twist.  Rapunzel doesn’t know she’s a prisoner in the tower.  She loves her Witch, and it’s only when Witch’s life is threatened by fairies that she’ll agree to leave the tower and go on a quest.  That quest soon has Rapunzel learning more about the world, and herself than she ever thought possible.  In the end, she’ll have to decide her own fate and confront Witch with what she’s done.

2.

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk by Liesl Shurtliff (Knopf Books for Young Readers, April 2015)

Last time Liesl Shurtliff took on Rumpelstiltskin, this time she takes on the story of Jack.  Jack is told giants aren’t real, but how else do you explain the giant footprint lake and way his own father disappeared?  Jack is determined to rescue his dad, with the help of some magic beans, but he may ultimately have to save the giants as well!  A story that creates a very different sort of Jack from the original, in a delightfully creative world all its own.

3.

One Witch at a Time by Stacy Dekeyser (Simon & Schuster, February 2015)

A companion volume to The Brixen Witch.  Rudi thought his adventures were done after the last one, but now a strange girl has appeared in town trading magic beans . . . and causing havoc in her wake.  For those beans contain another witch’s magic from another kingdom, and only one witch at a time can exist in a kingdom . . . when they or their magic leave and journey into another kingdom, things go horribly out of balance. Now it’s up to Rudi to help restore the balance!

4.

Of Enemies and Endings by Shelby Bach (Simon & Schuster, June 2015)

The fourth and final book in the Ever Afters quartet. Children of past storybook Characters attend a special school designed to train them to try and win their own happy endings in stories.  Rory knows that the Snow Queen is  targeting Characters and that there are few safe places left.  An ultimate confrontation will be inevitable, but will Rory find  her own Happy Ever After?

5.

Flunked by Jen Calonita (Sourcebooks Jabborwocky, March 2015)

Can villains really reform?  That’s the idea behind the new school Cinderella’s stepmother has opened for those with an unfortunate knack for villainy.  When twelve-year-old Gilly finds herself sent to reform school for petty theft, she soon finds herself wondering if the school really is trying to reform the students . . . or if something darker is at work.  This is the first book in the brand-new Fairy Tale Reform School series.

6.

Beauty Queen by Sarah Mlynowski  (Scholastic, April 2015)

The  seventh book in the Whatever After series, these stories focus on a pair of siblings who go through a magic mirror and wind up messing up traditional fairy tales.  The only way they’ll get home again is if they get the fairy tale back on track for a happily ever after!  This time the fairy tale at risk is Beauty and the Beast!  When Jonah and Abby gets sucked through the mirror, Jonah ends up the Beast’s prisoner for picking flowers and Abby must play matchmaker with Beauty.

7.

Valiant by Sarah McGuire (Edgmont, April 2015)

Admittedly this one skews a little more to the YA end, but it’s still shelved in the middle grade section at my branch!  This story has a new take on Jack the Giant Killer.  Our heroine disguises herself as a boy in desperation to get a commission as a tailor, and instead becomes hailed as a hero who stops a giant.  Now she’s caught up in a web of politics and warfare and trying to come up with her own happy ending!

8.

Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola, illustrated by Emily Carroll (Candlewick, August 2015)

Russian fairy tales often tell of this famous witch, but this time she’s advertising for an assistant to help her out.  The girl who applies knows all the old stories and how to navigate through them, but can Masha keep her wits about her when the stakes get larger than just herself?  This lightly spooky, and completely charming graphic novel is one of my favorites out this year!

9.

The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville (Knopf Books for Young Readers, February 2015)

An unusual fractured tale of the Three Bears. Ursula is a young bear governess whose gone to work for a well-to-do family.  But she hears footsteps in the halls at night and senses someone following her on her journeys through the enchanted forest.  A markedly different way of looking at this fairy tale that take our usual viewpoints of the story and twist them around quite thoroughly!

10.

The Peddler’s Road by Matthew Cody (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Expected Publication October 2015)

Everyone knows the story of the Pied Piper.  But no one really knows what happened to the children he stole away . . . until now.  In this contemporary story two children, tough Max and her brother Carter are stolen away as the children were all those years ago.  These two alone hold the keys to a prophecy that has been lying in wait.  Can they find their way home again?  The first book in the exciting new series The Secrets of the Pied Piper!

So there’s my ten!  Have more to add for 2015?  Please list them in the comments!