Faery Tales Carol Ann Duffy, illustrated by Tomislav Tomic, Faber & Faber, 9780571314270, £20hbk


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Carol Ann Duffy uses colloquial everyday language for many of her retellings, making them great to read aloud and harking back to the oral tradition from whence many of them came. Many of the stories emanate from the Brothers Grimm but there are also nods to the literary French tales (Blue Beard, Beauty and the Beast) and Andersen (The Emperor’s New Clothes) and some of her own stories (The Stolen Childhood, The Lost Happy Endings and others) drawing on fairy tale elements are also included.


One Thousand and One Arabian Nights


Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Rosamund Fowler, Oxford University Press, 9780192750136, £8.99pbk


A selection of tales from the Arabian Nights, stories that have had a huge influence on European wonder tales. The framework of Shahrazad telling these stories to her husband King Shahryar in order to postpone her death draws you on to read just one more story. They include Sindbad, Ali Baba and Ala al-Din and many other less well known stories. Children will recognise the familiar themes such as heroic quests and voyages, magical objects and transformations, and the struggle between good and evil.


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a Fairy Tales


Hilary McKay, illustrated by Sarah Gibb, Macmillan, 9781447292296, £9.99hbk


Hilary McKay has taken ten well- known fairy tales and given them a fresh twist by retelling them from a variety of viewpoints, often framing them in unexpected ways. The youthful protagonists of traditional tales are turned into parents and grandparents so if you ever wondered what happened following the ‘happy ever after’ you may find some suggested answers here.


Ann Lazim is Literature and Library Development Manager at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education in London which houses a large collection of traditional tales in its reference library www.clpe.org.uk


Blackberry Blue and Other Fairy Tales


Jamila Gavin, illustrated by Richard Collingridge, Tamarind, 978-1848531079, £6.99


Jamila Gavin has fashioned her own set of fairy tales, drawing principally on the European traditions with which she grew up. With the expressed aim of increased inclusivity, she has created characters who are people of colour. For example, the heroine of the title story, which has elements of the Cinderella variant Mossycoat, has ‘skin as black as midnight’ and ‘lips like crushed damsons’. None of the stories is a direct retelling of a traditional story but each incorporates tropes recognisable from folklore and fairy tale.


Tangleweed and Brine


Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Karen Vaughan, Little Island, 978-1910411926, £12.99hbk


Deirdre Sullivan recreates fairy tales for young adults in a manner that draws on the earthy and salty language of Angela Carter and is reminiscent of the truncated sentences of her countrywoman Eimear McBride. Birth, babies and burgeoning sexuality are very present as the young women familiar to us from traditional stories emerge into adulthood.


Red Riding


Hood tells of her life now she is ‘The Woodcutter’s Bride’, remembering ‘When I was a small girl something happened


to me in the forest.’ Many stories are in the second person, leaving room for the reader to work out who is speaking and who is being addressed.


Books for Keeps No.227 November 2017 11


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