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A Retelling: fairy tales

Whether you fell in love with Prince Charming or were haunted by Rumpelstiltskin, these titles should capture those emotions all over again. Fairy tales have had many uses over the years and have been used by many different cultures. They have served to keep frightened children in bed and have made brave heroes of boys and girls alike. These many different retellings and adaptations show just how much we still enjoy those childhood tales.  

Uprooted / Naomi Novik
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The bear and the nightingale : a novel / Katherine Arden
Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse's fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya's widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya's stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

A green and ancient light / Frederic S. Durbin
Set in a world similar to our own, during a war that parallels World War II, A Green and Ancient Light is the stunning story of a boy who is sent to stay with his grandmother for the summer in a serene fishing village. Their tranquility is shattered by the crash of a bullet-riddled enemy plane, the arrival of grandmother's friend Mr. Girandole--a man who knows the true story of Cinderella's slipper--and the discovery of a riddle in the sacred grove of ruins behind grandmother's house. 

Deathless / Catherynne M. Valente
Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century. The story lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei's beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. 

Every heart a doorway / Seanan McGuire
Children have always disappeared from Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere ... else. Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced ... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. 

Poison : a wicked snow white tale / Sarah Pinborough
An enticing contemporary retelling of the classic story of Snow White. While the handsome prince, the jealous queen, the beautiful girl and of course the poison all appear, Sarah Pinborough's charming and provocative spin on the story will captivate fans of the fairy tale all over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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