February 26th is National Tell a Fairytale Day!
Fairytales and folk tales are an integral part of a country’s traditions and provide a basis for many other stories that we know and love today. Many children are also introduced to fairytale characters in picture books that are either retellings of a traditional story or are new stories which include well loved characters.
We read traditional fairytales to our daughter when she was younger and coming from two different cultures she heard stories that my husband knows from his childhood which were unfamiliar to me and vice versa. My husband didn’t know Goldilocks and the Three Bears and I had never heard of Frau Holle by The Brothers Grimm.
We also enjoyed more contemporary stories including our favourite fairytale characters, it’s always fun to recognise a familiar story retold in a new way. Several of our favourite picture books are fractured fairytales and include familiar fairytale characters having new adventures.
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the fairytale hairdresser stories by abie longstaff & lauren beard
The Fairytale Hairdresser stories are huge favourites in our house – it’s fun to spot all our favourite fairytale and nursery rhyme characters! We particularly love The Fairytale Hairdresser and Cinderella in which Cinderella gets a job at Kittie Lacey’s hair salon and the way that Kittie and Father Christmas help the lonely Snow Queen in The Fairytale Hairdresser and Father Christmas.
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the princess stories by caryl hart & sarah Warburton
We love these rhyming fractured fairytales. The Princess and the Peas is a hilarious, rhyming story which also includes a short retelling of the traditional fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. Our favourite is The Princess and the Giant, we love the way that fearless main character, Princess Sophie, teaches the giant at the top of the beanstalk to read 🙂
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the jolly postman / the jolly christmas postman / each peach pear plum by janet & allan ahlberg
Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s rhyming stories include a cast of familiar fairytale and nursery rhyme characters and are easy for younger readers to join in when read aloud.
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These picture books incorporate fairytale characters into contemporary stories. It’s a lot of fun to spot the different fairytale characters in the illustrations!
fum by karl newson & lucy fleming
A family of giants, The Crumbs, can’t find their littlest son, Fum, so they take a walk through Fairytale Land to look for him. Along the way they ask various characters to help them find him. It’s fun to look for Fum who is hiding in all of the pictures (and thoroughly enjoying his game of hide and seek!).
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what’s the time mr wolf? by Debi gliori
What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? is the story of a day in the life of Mr Wolf and the interaction that he has with his friends. Each hour brings him into contact with different fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters – Little Red Riding Hood delivers the post or the three little pigs with their prank phonecalls. And at the end of the day Mr Wolf returns home to a big surprise…
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mr wolf’s pancakes by Jan fearnley
Nursery rhyme and fairytale characters including Wee Willy Winky, Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man refuse to help Mr Wolf make pancakes. However, Mr Wolf perseveres with his plan and manages to make some. But when his neighbours come to try them he behaves in a way that’s not entirely unexpected for a fairytale wolf!
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So many fairytales have been successfully rewritten and retold both in anthologies and as individual stories.
delightfully different fairytales by david roberts & lynn roberts-maloney
Cinderella wearing 1930s inspired Hollywood fashions, Sleeping Beauty set in the 1950s and Rapunzel living in a 1970s tower block. These stories are retold in a wonderfully original way and introduce readers to the fashions and styles intrinsic to the different historical eras.
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revolting rhymes by roald dahl & quentin blake
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes make us laugh!
He’s rewritten Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and The Three Little Pigs. The humour is very dark but humorous and Quentin Blake’s illustrations complement the rhyming text perfectly.
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the prince and the woodcutter by Ian eagleton & davide ortu
This is a beautifully illustrated, inclusive retelling of The Snow Queen. The story of how lonely woodcutter, Kai, falls in love with a cursed snow prince is told in a sensitive and heartwarming way and has a wonderfully ethereal, fairytale feel.
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The Three Little Pugs and the Big Bad Cat by Becky Davies & Caroline Attia
The Three Little Pugs and the Big Bad Cat is an amusing retelling of the story of the Three Little Pigs. The plot of the story is the same as the traditional version, the houses are still built out of straw, sticks and bricks. But the way that the Big Bad Cat blew the houses down really makes us laugh!
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Prince Cinders by Babette Cole
Prince Cinders isn’t your archetypal dashing prince (unlike his three, large, hairy brothers) but with the help of a dirty fairy he does get his happy ending!
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Ella by Alex T. Smith
A great twist on the Cinderella story, all of the characters are insects and instead of a magic slipper the main character loses her special party glasses!
Do you have a favourite fairytale? Or a favourite fractured fairytale? We have more fairytale picture books on Pinterest.
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