Fractured Fairytales

In all of literature there are hundreds of genres. Every person finds their little cubby-hole filled with familiar sights and sounds that lulls you into a deep trance that doesn't end until the book is closed.

Fractured fairytales are my little nook.

I have heard people ask me if I feel like I'm reading the same book over and over, but it has never felt that way to me. To me I get to step into someone else's childhood home and explore a bit. I think most of us have pretended to be some fictional character at some time or another. I have gone through Madeline, Belle, Cinderella, and so many other beloved characters, but what brought the most fun was infusing those characters I so admired with my own personality, dreams, and aspirations.

Suddenly they all had older brothers and younger sisters, they were forced to go to school, or they had powers stolen from another magical tale.

Authors who can successfully write a fractured fairytale are masters in my mind. As I said before, they are taking characters and plots that we have all visited a million times in our dreams, and changing them. They have to change them enough so that it is original, but not enough that the reader will not feel as if their gems have been violated. It is a hard balance to find, so to help you all discover my own love of these nostalgic tales, I am writing a list of my favorite fractured fairytales below.

Princess of the Midnight Ball
- Jessica Day George (and any other of her books and fractured fairytales)

The Looking Glass Wars
- Frank Beddor

The Goose Girl
- Shannon Hale

Wildwood Dancing
- Juliet Marillier

East
- Edith Pattou (If you only read one book from this list, this should be it)

The Folktales Series
- Robin Mckinley

Beastly
- Alex Flinn

Fairest
- Gail Carson Levine

The Storyteller's Daughter
- Cameron Dokey (another of my favorites along with her other fractured fairytales)

Midnight Pearls
- Debbie Viguié

The Lunar Chronicles (of course)
- Marissa Meyer

(If you ever want more suggestions, I really held myself back on this list so feel free to ask for more!)

Comments

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