Favorite new fairy tales

Many people like to look back at the year and categorize things from the year... ok, well, I read a lot, so here are a few of my favorite fairy tale books.

My favorite picture book fairy tale is called "Elephant Joe, Brave Knight!" by David Wojtowycz.  This is a very funny little fairy tale where the brave knights (a very cartoony elephant and his side kick, the pig) are called upon to rescue a princess from a dragon, BUT things are NOT what they seem.  This would be a great book to talk about elements of fairy tales (after you've read some of the more familiar ones) and then use this as a springboard to writing your own fairy tales.  It's so much fun.  Here's Mrs. Frenzel reading it!



 I just read one I really liked. As a disclaimer, I really like fairy tales. This fairy tale was well written, has great characters and some very interesting plot twists. It's called Jinx by Sage Blackwood. The main character is Jinx who lives with his stepmother and stepfather in a deep mysterious woods called the Urwald. Jinx can see how people feel with color and shape. He doesn't share this information with anyone (although no one he does tell believes him any way). His steparents decide that Jinx is too expensive to keep (all that pesky eating) so they decide to take him into the very dangerous forest and leave him there. As the stepfather is about to leave him, they come across a man who offers to buy Jinx so Jinx goes with him. There are mythical creatures, issues of trust, magic, mystery, curses, it's awesome. It would be appropriate as a read aloud for probably second grade and up. Bigger kids will like it too. As a bonus, it was on sale for the Kindle this week for only $1.99. What a deal.

 Here's a book trailer about it.

 Far far away by Tom McNeal is also a fairy tale, but it would NOT be appropriate for little kids... mature middle school or high school students will like this one, but it is a VERY scary fairy tale. Jeremy Johnson Johnson lives with his dad and hears voices. Specifically, he hears the voice of Jacob Grimm, who tries hard to help Jeremy out. Jeremy's dad has given up on life since his wife (Jeremy's mom) left town. Jeremy is struggling to live his high school life (complete with bullies and mysterious beautiful girls) and ends up trusting the wrong people. This book has great suspense, interesting characters, and some very scary parts!

 Here's the book trailer for Far far away.

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