How to Fracture a Fairy Tale

October 15, 2018

A young West Virginian girl deals with a harsh stepmama and seven little miners in "Snow in Summer." A selfish princess meets a lusty amphibian in "The Golden Balls." A mermaid, a prince, and his bride learn that words and emotions ebb and flow like the tide in "The Undine." Fairy tales and other legends are broken apart, shards of stories are spun into new short sagas, deftly crafted in the hands of master storyteller Yolen. Recrafting well-known tales from different points of view or underlying themes and possibilities casts a new, and sometimes harsh, light on childhood stories. VERDICT With a glowing introduction by author Marissa Meyer, and an afterword with an author's note and poem for each story, this showcase of 28 tales highlights Yolen's delightful imagination and elegant writing in both poetry and short prose form. Her fans will be excited to see the well-crafted follow-up to The Emerald Circus.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018
Award-winner Yolen follows The Emerald Circus? (2017) with an omnibus of 28 previously released short stories. Her well-honed talent for creating subtle twists to, or full-bore fracturing of, folk and fairy tales from across the globe is on full display here. Happy Dens; or, A Day in the Old Wolves' Home offers a commentary on retirement and bad press, told from the point of view of three famous (or infamous) fairy-tale wolves. Tapping into Asian lore, One Ox, Two Ox, Three Ox, and the Dragon King follows three dutiful brothers who take on dragons and a troll to save their ailing mother. In The Undine, a prince seeks distraction before the arrival of his bride and entices a mermaid with promises of loving devotion. A Cinderella variation, Cinder Elephant celebrates being plump over being thin, big feet over small, and grass slippers over those made of glass. Mama Gone offers a sad vampire tale told by a brave and loving daughter. Fans will be delighted with the story notes and poems that cap off her fantastic collection of fairy-tale retellings and fractured legends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)