Fairy Tale Spin Offs

One of my students loaned me a book called The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. You might recognize the author name as one of the Glee actors (yes, the TV show). The book sat on my nightstand for over a month before I finally picked it up. The student was starting to ask questions, and I was getting embarrassed. I judged the book by its cover– or rather the actor/author name and had pretty low expectations, but I needed to be able to make a few comments to my sweet student about the story. I was pleasantly surprised. It is a fun spin on the “ever after” of all of the best fairy tale characters.

Throw a library card, and you will hit a fairy tale spin off book. The books are everywhere right now, and I am hooked. Here is my suggested list. I have read only a few and most are on my “to read” list. Which one should I read next?

Upper Elementary

• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (Enchanted series)
• The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley (The Sisters Grimm series)
• Happily Ever After by Anna Quindlen
• The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
• Rapunzel, The One With All the Hair by Wendy Mass (Twice Upon a Time series)
• A Tale Dark and Grimm series by Adam Gidwitz
• The Wide Awake Princess by E.D. Baker (and others by this author)

Middle School

• Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (Woodcutter series, mixed reviews)
• Entwined by Heather Dixon
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman

And a picture book that I thought looked fun…

• Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten by Trisha Speed Shaskan (and others in this series)