Books, Reviews

Great Fairy Tales, Fun Twists, and Mini Reviews For You

Today’s featured books have the theme ‘fairy tales fun twists’. Both touch upon those familiar tales of childhood, and bring those characters to life in today’s world in a fun way that kids will be sure to enjoy. This makes them perfect for their intended audience and great for reading aloud.

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Mini Reviews: Fairy Tales Fun Twists

Help Wanted, Must Love Books

Title: Help Wanted, Must Love Books
Author: Janet Sumner Johnson
Illustrator: Courtney Dawson
Publishers:Capstone Editions
Pub Date: 02 Mar 2020
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Age-Range: 4 – 7 years
Source: NetGalley eARC

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My Thoughts

Shailey is in immediate need of a bedtime story reader! She fired her previous one as he was failing to do his duties well (and if you must know, it was dad!)

And now, she is all set to interview anyone and everyone who wants the job. It is certainly an exciting few days of interviewing for Shailey as the applicants range from the gingerbread man to various fairy tale princesses to Captain Hook. She keeps making updates to the requirements based on each applicant, until she was not sure she could ever find another bedtime-story-reader at all ever again!

And then, the story takes the sweetest turn……

The illustrations are colorful and cute. And I totally enjoyed the resumes of some of the applicants included at the end of the book (I saw myself in some of them!)

In Conclusion

I love that this book subtly lets adults know we need to take time away from the busyness that life tends to bring, and spend focused time with our loved ones; and shows children that they can work towards finding solutions for themselves when problems arise.

So yes, read it with your little loved ones for it is indeed a sweet sweet read about the love of reading and books and family!

The Big Book of Twisted Fairy Tales

Title: The Big Book of Twisted Fairy Tales: Stories about kindness, responsibility, honesty, and teamwork
Author: Sue Nicholson
Illustrator: Flavia Sorrentino
Publishers: Quarto Publishing Group
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2019
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Age-Range: 4 – 7 years
Source: NetGalley eARC

Goodreads ||  Book Depository || Target ||
Barnes and Noble

My Thoughts

I do love good retellings, and when the modern day twist on the familiar starts with the words ‘Once upon a time, there was a misty blue mountain. Below the misty blue mountain was a wild, dark forest and by the wild, dark forest was a village‘ – then I know I am going to simply adore it!

This cute book of twisted tales is one such example where four favorite familiar fairy tale characters return to your bookshelf to teach important values without preaching.

Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty, and Jack (from the beanstalk story) live in the same town, and also feature in each other’s stories in this book. Each one faces different challenges and learns the importance of being kind, honest, responsible, and of being a team player.

I loved the bright, colorful illustrations that add to the story. Each story also includes discussion questions and suggested activities, that make it perfect for the intended audience.

In Conclusion

A great book for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms, as it provides a lot of avenues for discussion and group activities. And a sweet book to read aloud to little ones at home!

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy of the featured books. These thoughts are my honest opinions of the books.

And Now, the Happily Ever After (I Mean, The End – of this post)

Dear reader, what kind of books do you like to read aloud the most? For yourself, to little ones, or to any audience at all?:) And as far as fairy tales, do you enjoy retellings on those familiar tales? If yes, then any favorites? Suggestions for any age group welcome.

Linking this to IMWAYR over at Teach Mentor Texts.

24 thoughts on “Great Fairy Tales, Fun Twists, and Mini Reviews For You

  1. Looks like a fun book for little ones. I like that’s it’s a twist on fairy tales. It makes it more exciting for parents to read because it’s not something you know by heart.

  2. I love finding new kid books! I was just at our library yesterday wishing I knew of some great new titles. I will look for these at our next visit.

  3. I’m very much looking forward to reading Help Wanted, Must Love Books. It’s on my list of reading, this week, so that I can publish my review right as it’s published. But it just looks so cute! Hope you’ve been having a wonderful reading week, Vidya!

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