Elizabeth Medina
Professor Warner
Eng 112B
May 3, 2006
Annotated
Bibliography
Rebelling Fairy Tales
The Fantasy genre provides authors with limitless possibilities. Ursula Le Guin comments on how �the basic concept of fantasy is this; you get to make up the rules but then you�ve got to follow them�(199 Donelson). Yet some authors choose to write fantasy that appears to limit their freedom to even make up the rules. When they retell fairy tales authors take the rule that are already made and usually have their characters try to bend or breakout of those rules.
Fairy tale adaptations are useful in getting teens to read because the books build on stories many people already know from their childhood. Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim indicates that fairy tales help children, � confront basic human predicaments� (24 Bettelheim). The Fairy Tale novels continue this tradition, maturing with the reader, the novels explore the identity and serious responsibilities of well known characters. Just like teenagers questioning their parents� rules, the characters in these stories no longer just accept what is but question the magical rules surrounding them. Besides questioning their world the Fairy Tale novel serves to approach serious issues young adults face in the real world. Issues such as rape, abuse, teen pregnancy, and incest are only a few of the themes found in some of these novels. Many times the ultimate goal of the character is not to marry the prince or princess but to heal from their hardships. After facing the frightening problems magic brings characters gain the courage to face their everyday problems.
Geras, Adele. Watching
the Roses.
Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1998.
Alice,
an English schoolgirl, has lain on her bed, seemingly asleep, since the night
of her eighteenth birthday party--stricken dumb by a trauma so severe she can
only cope by retreating from the world. But her retreat is not complete: in the
lonely hours when no one is watching, she keeps a diary. And as she writes in soft
murmurs about her friends, her school, her family history, she gets closer and
closer to the events of her birthday, until she is able to release the words
that keep her under a spell of silence.
Summary taken from http://www.windowsill.net
Goldman, William. The Princess Bride. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973.
What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world
marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot
less than the man of her dreams? As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to
hear his father read the "S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts
were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts"
reached his ears. Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the
"Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups
everywhere.
What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A
Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women.
Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies,
Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex. In short, it's about everything.
Lynn, Tracy. Snow. New York: Simon Pulse, 2003.
"Once upon a time," a child was born to a duke
and duchess in a remote corner of Wales- but the wife died giving birth, and
the duke, in his grief, refused to have anything to do with the child. So
begins this Victorian psychological thriller based loosely on "Snow
White." When Jessica is about to enter adolescence, her father marries a
vain, brilliant woman who longs to be taken seriously as a scientist. Her
"experiments" combine medieval superstitions and modern scientific
equipment to help her bear a male heir for the duke and are juxtaposed with
sessions before a mirror held up for her by a literally spellbound
servant/musician. When her stepdaughter's emerging beauty drives the duchess to
murderous plans, the musician warns Jessica to escape, but only after her
jealous stepmother has kept her a virtual prisoner for several years, rendering
her complexion pale enough to earn her new name, Snow. The naive girl flees to
London, where she immediately loses her purse in the confusion of Paddington
Station and, wandering the streets, stumbles into the den of an unlikely band
called "the lonely ones."
Taken from School Library Journal
Maguire, Gregory. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. New York: HarperCollins Books,
1999.
We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks? Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale? While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life. God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmothers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes! Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.
Summary taken from HarperCollins Books
McKinley, Robin. Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast. New York:
HarperCollins Children�s Books, 1978.
Beauty has always felt plain and awkward next to her two
beautiful sisters. Hating her nickname, she prefers to read and go horseback
riding over attending social events. However, her father, a wealthy merchant,
soon falls on hard times and the family is forced to move to the country. To
Beauty the move is an improvement to her old life. She no longer has to sew a
straight stitch or worry about acting like a lady and her height and large
hands are appreciated when it comes to helping her brother-in-law at his forge.
Yet Beauty�s new found tranquility is shattered when her father comes back with
a rose and a fantastical story. He has discovered an enchanted castle in the
forest and made a terrible promise to the Beast, the master of the castle.
Always ready to help her family Beauty volunteers to be the Beast�s prisoner.
McKinley,
Robin. Deerskin. New York:
Penguin Putnam Inc., 1993.
As Princess Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her breathtaking beauty she is the mirror image of her mother, the queen. But this seeming blessing forces her to flee for safety from her father's lust and madness. With her loyal dog Ash at her side, Lissar will unlock a door to a world of magic, where she will find the key to her survival-and an adventure beyond her wildest dreams. Summary taken from Penguin Putnam Inc.
Pratchett, Terry. Witches Abroad. New York: HarperCollins Books, 2002.
Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named Desiderata who had a good heart, a wise head, and poor planning skills--which unfortunately left the Princess Emberella in the care of her other (not quite so good and wise) godmother when DEATH came for Desiderata. So now it's up to Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg to hop on broomsticks and make for far-distant Genua to ensure the servant girl doesn't marry the Prince. But the road to Genua is bumpy, and along the way the trio of witches encounters the occasional vampire, werewolf, and falling house (well this is a fairy tale, after all). The trouble really begins once these reluctant foster-godmothers arrive in Genua and must outwit their power-hungry counterpart who'll stop at nothing to achieve a proper "happy ending"--even if it means destroying a kingdom. Summary taken from Harper Collins Books
Velde, Vivian Vande. The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2002.
Why did the miller tell the king his daughter could
spin straw into gold in the first place? The story of Rumpelstiltskin is full
of holes, says young adult fantasy writer Vivian Vande Velde in the author's
note to this delightful group of tales. For instance, why was the dwarf was
willing to accept the girl's ring as a bribe when he already knew how to spin
unlimited quantities of gold? And why did he want a baby at all? Not to mention
the very peculiar ending in which he stamps on the floor, catches his foot in a
crack, and in a fit of rage tears himself in two. Excuse me? says Vande Velde.
The skeptical author sets out to remedy these flaws
in six different imaginative retellings full of sassy humor that teens will
relish. Sticking closely to the spirit and setting of the original, she changes
only one or two building blocks in the plot structure and comes up with some
surprising results. In one story, the miller's daughter is an obnoxious groupie
pursuing the polite and gentle king; in another, Rumpelstiltskin is female; and
in a third, the dwarf appears as a troll with a yen to eat human baby who sets
up the whole scenario as an attempt to get his hands on a toothsome infant.
("Tastes just like chicken," scoffs his brother-in-law.)
Teen readers will appreciate the wit and freshness
of these smart-mouth renditions of a traditional story.
Summary taken from www.amazon.com
Velde, Vivian Vande. Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird. Orlando,
Florida: Harcourt Books, 1995.
How to fracture a fairy tale: 1. Make the villain a hero. 2.Make the hero a villain. 3. Tell what really happened. 4. All of the above. Welcome to the fairy-tale world where Hansel and Gretel are horrible children who deserve to be baked and where Beauty is dismayed when her beloved Beast turns human. In the realm of the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird, when the sky really does fall, Chicken Little becomes the leader of a religious movement, gets her own TV show, collects millions of dollars to build a theme park, and then makes off with the money.
Wrede, Patricia. The Dealing with Dragons. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books, 1990.
Cimorene, princess of Linderwall, is a classic tomboy
heroine with classic tomboy strengths--all of which are perceived by those
around her as defects: "As for the girl's disposition--well, when people
were being polite, they said she was strong-minded. When they were angry or
annoyed with her, they said she was as stubborn as a pig." Cimorene, tired
of etiquette and embroidery, runs away from home and finds herself in a nest of
dragons. Now, in Cimorene's world--a world cleverly built by author Patricia C.
Wrede on the shifting sands of myriad fairy tales--princesses are forever being
captured by dragons. The difference here is that Cimorene goes willingly. She
would rather keep house for the dragon Kazul than be bored in her parents'
castle. With her quick wit and her stubborn courage, Cimorene saves the mostly
kind dragons from a wicked plot hatched by the local wizards, and worms her way
into the hearts of young girls everywhere.
Summary taken from www.amazon.com
Works Cited
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of
Fairy
Tales. New York: Vintage Books, 1975.
Donelson, Kenneth L. and Nilsen, Alleen Pace. Literature
for Today�s Young
Adults, Seventh Edition. New York: Pearson Education Inc. 2005.