Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Favorite Fairy Tale Retellings. I already did a post on seven of my favorites, but here are ten more that I enjoyed. (As you can tell, this is one of my favorite genres — I’d love more recommendations!)
- Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (Rapunzel)
- A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce (Rumpelstiltskin)
- East by Edith Pattou (East of the Sun, West of the Moon)
- Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (Cinderella)
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Maid Maleen)
- Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (The Twelve Dancing Princesses)
- Deerskin by Robin McKinley (Donkeyskin)
- Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip (Beauty and the Beast)
- Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede (Snow White and Rose Red)
- Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl (The Goose Girl)
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
Great list! I love a good fairytale retelling, and I think the YA ones out there are particularly good. Ella Enchanted is such an enjoyable book, and I really liked Wildwood Dancing too. 🙂
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There are so many great choices out there these days.
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You sure have read a lot of retellings! I’m always telling myself that I should read more of them so this list was very helpful. Have a good day!
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If you read even a few, that will give you a good start.
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I’m only familiar with Ella Enchanted on your list, but I’m intrigued by all your choices, especially Bitter Greens.
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One of my favorite reads this year so far!
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What a great list! I haven’t read any of these, but I love fairy tales so I am going to look into them!
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If you love fairy tales, I’m pretty sure you’ll love most (or at least some) of these.
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I’ve only read Ella Enchanted, but I did really enjoy it. I haven’t read that many fairy tale retellings, but I am more curious these days. I love Melissa Meyer’s take on them with Cinder, etc.
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I have not read the Lunar Chronicles, but they’re on my list.
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Snow White and Rose Red was one of my favorite fairy tales when I was growing up; I’ll have to check out Wrede’s version of it. See if I still like it. 🙂
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I’ll be interested to know what you think.
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I actually recently bought Ella Enchanted from the Book Outlet. I THINK I read it a really long time ago when I was much younger…but I don’t remember it. I’m definitely excited to start that one 🙂
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I would love to reread it. I remember finding it totally charming.
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Bitter Greens has been on my radar for a while. It sounds like a good one! I’d highly recommend Alias Hook and While Beauty Slept . They were both beautiful, dark, adult fairy tale retelling and I loved them a lot 🙂
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I enjoyed Alias Hook too! For this list I focused on traditional stories, but there could be a whole other category for spin-offs of more modern tales like Peter Pan. Thanks for reminding me about While Beauty Slept. I’ve been meaning to read that one.
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Ohh, more books I’d love to read… I’ll try to remember to focus: one book at a time! The only one I know to recommend additionally is “The Magic Circle” by Donna Jo Napoli. It’s a fascinating retelling of Hansel and Gretel, turning the tale inside out by telling it from the POV of the (sympathetic) witch. I read partway through Napoli’s retelling of Beauty & the Beast… I found it somewhat interesting but nowhere near as compelling.
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I’ve never read any Donna Jo Napoli though I know she specializes in retellings. Thanks for the recommendation, it’s been a bit hard to know where to start with her.
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This is such an entertaining and interesting meme.
I have not read any of the books on your list but I want to read several of them. I think that handled correctly retelling of fairytales can lead to great results. The concept has so much potential.
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Yes, there seem to be limitless possibilities! I never get tired of them at least.
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I loved Ella Enchanted when I read it, but that is many years ago now. My most recent fairy tale retelling I enjoyed was The Storyteller and Her Sisters by Cheryl Mahoney. Which retells The Twelve Dancing Princesses, my favourite fairy tale from my childhood.
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There are quite a few retellings of that story, and that looks like a good one.
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Deerskin is ROUGH. I love it and Beauty about equally from Robin McKinley, but Beauty is the one I usually recommend to people, because that scene with her father and the dog is just so, so hard to read. Fwoo.
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Deerskin is not for everyone, it’s true — Bitter Greens has some pretty devastating scenes too. So powerful though.
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I love when they take a classic and give it a spin. I watched wicked last year, and it flipped the story of wizard of oz to make the witch look like a good person.
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Looking from the point of view of the villain gives a great twist.
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These are probably old news to you but have you read any of Gregory Maguire’s books? I love his retelling of fairytales. He’s done The Wizard of Oz and Cinderella (I think). He has a new one about Alice called After Alice coming out this fall. I’m really looking forward to it.
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I have read some of them but they are not my favorites. Most recently I enjoyed Egg and Spoon, although I felt it went on too long. He does a great Baba Yaga.
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