Whatever happened to “happily ever after”? Heroes search for happiness, villains plot revenge, and nothing is as easy as it once seemed. Gretel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, an orphan girl questions Rumpelstiltskin’s legacy, a monster cat searches for a child to eat, and the pied piper realizes stealing a hundred and thirty children may not have been his smartest idea.Fairy tales have endured for centuries even though-or perhaps because-their conclusions are often more unsettling than satisfying. In Unspun, eleven storytellers come together to challenge and explore a few of those classic tales. Unexpected twists are sure to provoke both thought and laughter. Gorgeous illustrations by Ruth Nickle accompany each piece.Stories in the Anthology: “Heart of a Thief” by Chris Cutler (Jack and the Beanstalk)”Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter” by Ruth Nickle (Rumpelstiltskin)”Tsar Vislav, Tsarina Vislav, and the Firebird” by Sarah Chow (Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf)”Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand” by Katherine Cowley (Tatterhood)”The Little Mermaid” by PJ Switzer (The Little Mermaid)”Ásthildur and the Yule Cat” by Sarah Blake Johnson (The Yule Cat)”Perfectly Real” by Robin Prehn (The Princess and the Pea)”The Pied Piper’s Revenge” by Scott Cowley (The Pied Piper)”Ethical Will” by Kaki Olsen (The Nutcracker)”Breadcrumbs” by Jeanna Mason Stay (Hansel and Gretel)”Spring’s Revenge” by Anika Arrington (Snow White)
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Sexual Content - 1/5
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Violence - 1/5
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Language - 0/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 0/5
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Summary
I love fairytale retellings so I had high expectations for this book; I'm delighted to say this met most of them. It wasn't a retelling of stories, more of a continuation of stories we already know. For me, the best part was the back that has a brief summary of the original story in case you don't know it. The first story was about the man who traded Jack for the magic beans, the second was about the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin and where she ended up, the third about the parents of Tsarevitch Ivan from Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf and how they stopped a war with the three kingdoms their son stole his prizes from. The fourth and my personal favorite was a continuation of Tatterhood and her search for her husband who disappears with no explanation, a poem from the Little Mermaid to her family and her beloved prince based off the Hans Christian Anderson version, and the sixth about the Yule Cat and when and why he stopped eating children. The next one was about the Princess and why she left home from the Princess and the Pea, the eighth about the Pied Piper and his plan to get back at the town that refused his payment. The last two were my next two favorites. One was about the Nutcracker who still keeps a connection to our world and how he and his owner decide to get rid of the Mouse King for good and the other about Snow White's son and the Evil Queen tries to take her kingdom back through him. All in all, I absolutely LOVED this book.