Whether you're looking for bold re-imaginings, modern twists, or fantasy turned science fiction, the following list has a little bit of everything. Click on titles to request the book for your local Lake County Public Library branch, or come in and check us out today
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Book 1 of The Lunar Chronicles)
Enter Cinder, a young mechanic cyborg who lives at the whims of her step-mother and step-sisters and dreams of a time when she can escape to a life on her own. But when a terrible tragedy strikes her family Cinder is wrenched from the life she's known and put into a scientific study, destined to be one more who dies in the quest to cure the disease that is ravaging the earth. This is fantasy meets sci-fi, the plot taking place in the distant future. Packed with action and narrated by a very relatable main character, it's easy to forget that this is basically Cinderella in space, because it is simply a whole story of its own. Don't forget to check out the next titles in the series Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. Meyer manages to pay homage to the original stories while winding them all into a continual story arch all it's own.
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
We all know the story of Cinderella. But what happens after? Is it really happily ever after? This novel is a continuation of the classic tale, following Ella as she struggles to fit into a life she isn't quite sure she really belongs in. Can a girl who was hardly more than a kitchen maid be a princess? Does she really want to be anyway? If you've ever thought about what happens after, this is the book for you.
Unlike many Rapunzel stories where the reader is shown nothing but a villainous witch who only uses the child for her benefit, Zel delves into the idea of Repunzel's mother being a woman who does truly love the daughter she has raised. What's more, this mother has given up everything for the chance to raise her. But with a chance encounter of a young prince, their carefully laid out lives take a sudden twist for the worst and Zel's mother will do the unspeakable to make sure she doesn't lose her daughter.
This is not the Rapunzel story you think you know. Instead of being stolen, Rapunzel's mother willingly gives away the daughter she can't stand the sight of. For 16 years a powerful sorceress raises her, only to reveal that she has another daughter and that Rapunzel is the only one who can save her from a curse. Filled with twists and turns, this story is an interesting new take on the old tale.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Based on the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, this novel follows Rose, one of the forced dancers in an underground palace. She and the other princesses are caught under a spell and with the help of a young soldier they endeavor to break it. They must find three magical ingredients, as well as true love if they want to escape. However, the real enemy might be in the world above rather than the underground they are trapped in. This is a magical tale that delves into a lesser known fairy tale and is also book one in a trio. Check out Princess of Glass and Princess of the Silver Woods to get the whole of the Princesses of Westfalin story.
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
This novel is a twist on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but one that makes the story entirely it's own. High in the Transylvanian woods live five princesses, happy and content with their lives at home with their loving father. Main character Jena spends her time exploring the world around her, and her special joy is a portal that opens only to her and her sisters during the full moon. The girls walk through into the world of fairy and dance the night together. However when their father falls ill their cousin Cezar enters their lives, kindness and help disguising his true thirst for power. When one of the princesses falls in love with a dark fey, Jena must work to save not only her kingdom and family but the Other Kingdom through the portal as well.
Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of the Little Mermaid by Debbie Viguie
Long ago a fisherman saves a baby from the sea. Yearning to raise her, they keep the child and name her Pearl, ignoring her strange looks and behavior as she grows from a child into a young woman. Outcast from the village, set apart from other girls who are beginning to marry, Pearl begins a secret friendship with the Prince of her Kingdom. But their fragile relationship is threatened when a plot against the kingdom comes from the depths of the sea. This re-imagining takes a different look at mermaid lore, rather than re-hashing the same old story.
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
Sirena is a siren, living under the whims of the Goddess Hera. But her tender heart cannot leave the lone survivor of a shipwreck to drown. She saves the man, breaking the Goddesses rules. As the two begin to fall in love they realize that their path together isn't a simple one. This is a lyrical and soothing story, lulling the reader into a sense of wonder and magic. Not the classic story of the Little Mermaid or the tale of the sirens, this is somewhere in between.
Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty by Cameron Dokey
This is the Sleeping Beauty story we all know, but with a princess who isn't waiting for her destiny to do its dirty work. When she finds out that her curse will also affect her entire beloved kingdom of people, she sets out on a quest to change her fate. This one is for those who enjoy brave girls who take their lives into their own hands.
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
This is a fairy-tale mixed with the horrors of real life. Rebecca has always listened to her grandmother (Gemma's) stories about Briar Rose, otherwise known as sleeping beauty. But as her Gemma lays dying, she begins to say something astonishing: that she is, in fact, Briar Rose. Rebecca goes on a quest through the past to find the truth, leading her through a history that none of us should forget. Though this is essentially a Holocaust story, there is a lot of the fairy-tale still in the story, making for an interesting twist on the story we all know.
Thorn by Intisar Khanani
Thorn is the story of Princess Allyra, a young woman who has never had any power over her life despite her royal life. Forced into an arranged marriage with a foreign royal, Allyra travels to meet her new fate. However, in a magical attack gone wrong Allyra's identity is switched with another woman. Suddenly she has a freedom she never expected to have. She could fight for her almost betrothed, or give herself a new life, unencumbered of the duty that bound her before. She never expects the Prince to be someone worth fighting for, but he surprises her. She finds that if she turns her back on him, his life is forfeit, but if she stays she risks her own life. Based on the fairy tale, The Goose Girl, this story is all about the choices we make and the trust we must learn to put in ourselves.
East by Edith Pattou
Always feeling out of place and alone in the world, Rose jumps at the chance to escape her life. When a giant white bear appears to her, asking her to come away with him, she knows this is the magical chance she has always been waiting for. She comes to live in a faraway castle where each day she must solve a mystery to learn what her purpose in the world as well as help the bear who is the victim of dark magic. This is a fantastical re-telling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
Beauty by Robin McKinley
This is a story of a girl who is not a beauty, as her nickname suggests. But she does have courage. When her father gets lost in an enchanted forest, he returns to tell her that he made a terrible deal. One of his daughters must go to the beast that lives there, all because of the father's reckless taking of a rose. Beauty knows she must go, and leaves of her own choice to meet the fate ahead of her. This is a magical story that pulls the reader in, filling the original story with new life.
Beastly by Alex Flinn
With a gender twist, this is a modern day re-interpretation of the Beauty and the Beast story. Kyle is a rich freshman, with all the good looks and money a guy could need at his fancy-pants New York prep school. But he chooses the wrong girl in his English class to insult and suddenly finds himself turned into a hideous beast. With his father ashamed to even look at him, Kyle is shut into a house on the outskirts of town, kept company by a maid and a blind tutor. Kyle feels doomed, especially because the witch who cursed him gave him only way out: if he can find someone who loves him as he is within two years, the curse will lift. But who can love him as a beast? This is the story from the beast's side, as he learns that he doesn't have to be beastly outside as well as in.
The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of Rumplestiltskin by Suzanne Weyn
In the year 1880 young Bertie is a seamstress happy to find work in the home of a textile tycoon. But when the business is threatened, her father makes a boast that she will live to regret: surely his daughter can save the business, because her sewing is so perfect she can practically spin gold. And she does what she can, but with the help of a man from her tenement. He spins with a magnificent crimson thread, and all he wants is her firstborn child in return for his help. It isn't until it's too late that she realizes she might have agreed to something she wasn't willing to own up to.
For anyone who has ever wanted more from the story of little red riding hood, this book is for you. Made up of eight short re-tellings of the same story, Velde looks at the same old story from every side. She capitalizes on an already weird story to take a look at the quirky side of things.
Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire
In an exquisite exploration of Russian folklore, this story follows Elana, an impoverished girl from the countryside. When a train filled to the brim with food and treasures arrives in their town, it carries a noble family on their way to meet the Tsar of Russia. When Elana's life collides with the young noble Ekaterina, the two are set on an adventure neither expected filled with magic, mistaken identity, and even a run in with the dreaded Baba Yaga of Russian myth.
Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson
When Sophie is orphaned, a mysterious invitation from a Godfather she's never known is the only avenue forward. She leaves her life behind for the lavish existence at Wyndriven Abbey where she, despite herself, drawn to the wealth and charm of her enigmatic guardian. But there are whispers all around, of past wives with hair as red as hers, and a mystery that is inescapable. The further she goes the more trapped she knows she is. A tale of mystery and romance, this is a play on the fairytale of Blue Beard in a reimagining that takes place in antebellum Mississippi.
Fairest of All by Serina Valentino
This novel is part of a series that takes a look at the villain side of Disney movies. For anyone who loves Disney already and would like to dive further in, this would be a great one to read. Fairest of All follows the Wicked Queen from snow white to find out exactly why she is the way she is. Don't forget to check out the other books in this series including, The Beast Within, Poor Unfortunate Soul, and Mistress of All Evil.
Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguie
Violet never expected to fall in love with a prince, and it seems that his parents weren't bargaining for it either. In this re-telling of the Princess and the Pea, Violet must compete against other real princesses in royal tests to prove she is worthy of a prince. This novel is more of an expansion on the fairytale and would be of interest to anyone who loves once upon a times and happily ever afters.
