• STACKED
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Audiobooks
    • Book Lists
      • Debut YA Novels
      • Get Genrefied
      • On The Radar
    • Cover Designs
      • Cover Doubles
      • Cover Redesigns
      • Cover Trends
    • Feminism
      • Feminism For The Real World Anthology
      • Size Acceptance
    • In The Library
      • Challenges & Censorship
      • Collection Development
      • Discussion and Resource Guides
      • Readers Advisory
    • Professional Development
      • Book Awards
      • Conferences
    • The Publishing World
      • Data & Stats
    • Reading Life and Habits
    • Romance
    • Young Adult
  • Reviews + Features
    • About The Girls Series
    • Author Interviews
    • Contemporary YA Series
      • Contemporary Week 2012
      • Contemporary Week 2013
      • Contemporary Week 2014
    • Guest Posts
    • Link Round-Ups
      • Book Riot
    • Readers Advisory Week
    • Reviews
      • Adult
      • Audiobooks
      • Graphic Novels
      • Non-Fiction
      • Picture Books
      • YA Fiction
    • So You Want to Read YA Series
  • Review Policy

STACKED

books

  • STACKED
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Audiobooks
    • Book Lists
      • Debut YA Novels
      • Get Genrefied
      • On The Radar
    • Cover Designs
      • Cover Doubles
      • Cover Redesigns
      • Cover Trends
    • Feminism
      • Feminism For The Real World Anthology
      • Size Acceptance
    • In The Library
      • Challenges & Censorship
      • Collection Development
      • Discussion and Resource Guides
      • Readers Advisory
    • Professional Development
      • Book Awards
      • Conferences
    • The Publishing World
      • Data & Stats
    • Reading Life and Habits
    • Romance
    • Young Adult
  • Reviews + Features
    • About The Girls Series
    • Author Interviews
    • Contemporary YA Series
      • Contemporary Week 2012
      • Contemporary Week 2013
      • Contemporary Week 2014
    • Guest Posts
    • Link Round-Ups
      • Book Riot
    • Readers Advisory Week
    • Reviews
      • Adult
      • Audiobooks
      • Graphic Novels
      • Non-Fiction
      • Picture Books
      • YA Fiction
    • So You Want to Read YA Series
  • Review Policy

This Week at Book Riot

June 22, 2018 |

 

This week over on Book Riot…

  • Great jewelry based on books.

 

  • Have you noticed the abundance of YA book titles which begin with “The Art Of ___?” Here’s a look at a pile of ’em.

 

 

If you’re in New Orleans at ALA this weekend, I hope I see you Saturday!

Also: you can snag Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World in ebook formats across all platforms for $2. The deal won’t last much longer, so grab it quick.

Filed Under: book riot

Booklist: Influenza Pandemic of 1918

June 20, 2018 |

This year is the hundredth anniversary of the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide in the midst of World War I. As you might expect, a hundred years later, there’s renewed interest, and publishers have released a mini-flood of books that focus on it. But the flu has long been a popular topic for writers of nonfiction and historical fiction, as well as their readers; it’s also the seed of the idea for many, many dystopias and apocalyptic stories. Clearly, this tragedy causes fear and fires the imagination at the same time. In 2018, interest is even higher. This booklist highlights some of the more prominent books for teens on the topic, both fiction and nonfiction, and as a bonus, a few futuristic stories that posit a world during, and after, an even deadlier flu pandemic.

Nonfiction

Epidemics and Pandemics: Real Tales of Deadly Diseases by Judy Dodge Cummings

Feel a tickle in your throat? Do you still have that headache? Could you be falling victim to a deadly virus? From history’s earliest days, bacteria and viruses have stalked humans. Stowing on wagons, ships, and airplanes, these diseases traversed the globe, infecting people in city streets and isolated hamlets. Epidemics and Pandemics: Real Tales of Deadly Diseases tells the tale of five of history’s most critical contagions.

 

More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War by Kenneth C. Davis

With 2018 marking the 100th anniversary of the worst disease outbreak in modern history, the story of the Spanish flu is more relevant today than ever. This narrative, told through the stories and voices of the people caught in the deadly maelstrom, explores how this vast, global epidemic was intertwined with the horrors of World War I—and how it could happen again. Complete with photographs, period documents, modern research, and firsthand reports by medical professionals and survivors.

Pandemic: How Climate, the Environment, and Superbugs Increase the Risk by Connie Goldsmith

How close are we to having another worldwide health crisis? Pandemic epidemiologists have identified one they believe is likely to happen in the next couple decades: the flu. Learn about factors that contribute to the spread of disease by examining past pandemics and epidemics, including the Bubonic Plague, smallpox Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and Zika. Examine case studies of potential pandemic diseases, like SARS and cholera, and find out how pathogens and antibiotics work. See how human activities such as global air travel and the disruption of animal habitats contribute to the risk of a new pandemic. And discover how scientists are striving to contain and control the spread of disease, both locally and globally.

The 1918 Flu Pandemic by Katherine Krohn

In graphic novel format, follows the 1918 outbreak of a mysterious influenza virus that killed millions of people worldwide, making it the deadliest pandemic in history.

 

 

 

 

Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Albert Marrin

In spring of 1918, World War I was underway, and troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, found themselves felled by influenza. By the summer of 1918, the second wave struck as a highly contagious and lethal epidemic and within weeks exploded into a pandemic, an illness that travels rapidly from one continent to another. It would impact the course of the war, and kill many millions more soldiers than warfare itself.

Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far the worst that has ever afflicted humankind; not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages comes close in terms of the number of lives it took. No war, no natural disaster, no famine has claimed so many. In the space of eighteen months in 1918-1919, about 500 million people–one-third of the global population at the time–came down with influenza. The exact total of lives lost will never be known, but the best estimate is between 50 and 100 million.

In this powerful book, filled with black and white photographs, nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines the history, science, and impact of this great scourge–and the possibility for another worldwide pandemic today.

 

Fiction

Blessing’s Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson

Nutaaq and her older sister, Aaluk, are on a great journey, sailing from a small island off the coast of Alaska to the annual trade fair. There, a handsome young Siberian wearing a string of cobalt blue beads watches Aaluk “the way a wolf watches a caribou, never resting.” Soon his actions—and other events more horrible than Nutaaq could ever imagine—threaten to shatter her I~nupiaq world. Seventy years later, Nutaaq’s greatgranddaughter, Blessing, is on her own journey, running from the wreckage of her life in Anchorage to live in a remote Arctic village with a grandmother she barely remembers. In her new home, unfriendly girls whisper in a language she can’t understand, and Blessing feels like an outsider among her own people. Until she finds a cobalt blue bead—Nutaaq’s bead—in her grandmother’s sewing tin. The events this discovery triggers reveal the power of family and heritage to heal, despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn

Against the ominous backdrop of the influenza epidemic of 1918, Annie, a new girl at school, is claimed as best friend by Elsie, a classmate who is a tattletale, a liar, and a thief. Soon Annie makes other friends and finds herself joining them in teasing and tormenting Elsie. Elsie dies from influenza, but then she returns to reclaim Annie’s friendship and punish all the girls who bullied her. Young readers who revel in spooky stories will relish this chilling tale of a girl haunted by a vengeful ghost.

 

The Goodbye Season by Marian Hale

Mercy Kaplan doesn’t want to be like her mother, saddled with crying kids and failing crops for the rest of her life. Mercy longs to be on her own—until her wish comes true in the worst possible way. It is 1918 and a deadly flu epidemic ravages the country, leaving her utterly alone and penniless.

Mercy soon finds a job with Mrs. Wilder. But there’s something unsettling about the woman, whose brother died under mysterious circumstances. And then there’s Daniel, who could sweep a girl off her feet if she isn’t careful.

The Keening by A. LaFaye

Born into a family with artistry in their fingers, Lyza laments that her only talent is carving letters into wood. That is until her life is turned upside down when her mother succumbs to the influenza pandemic of 1918, which is devastating their small coastal town in Maine. With her mother gone, Lyza must protect her eccentric father, who runs the risk of being committed, especially now that he claims he’s waiting for the return of his dead wife. Can Lyza save her father and find her own path in the process?

 

A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

For Cleo Berry, the people dying of the Spanish Influenza in cities like New York and Philadelphia may as well be in another country–that’s how far away they feel from the safety of Portland, Oregon. And then cases start being reported in the Pacific Northwest. Schools, churches, and theaters shut down. The entire city is thrust into survival mode–and into a panic. Headstrong and foolish, seventeen-year-old Cleo is determined to ride out the pandemic in the comfort of her own home, rather than in her quarantined boarding school dorms. But when the Red Cross pleads for volunteers, she can’t ignore the call. As Cleo struggles to navigate the world around her, she is surprised by how much she finds herself caring about near-strangers. Strangers like Edmund, a handsome medical student and war vet. Strangers who could be gone tomorrow. And as the bodies begin to pile up, Cleo can’t help but wonder: when will her own luck run out?

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Fever Season by Eric Zweig

When David is orphaned by the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1919 Montreal, he needs to find his long-lost uncle if he wants to avoid the orphanage, and he gets his chance when he gets a job with the Montreal Canadiens.

 

 

Bonus: Futuristic Stories about Pandemics

Nowhere Wild by Joe Beernink

Izzy is just thirteen when a flu pandemic turns the world upside down. After her sister is attacked by a roving gang of looters in what remains of their town, Izzy flees to the wilderness with a man who claims he will protect her. Sixteen-year-old Jake is stranded and alone in the unforgiving northern Manitoba backcountry. His mother and grandfather have died and his father has gone missing, the plane meant to return them from a summer camping trip having failed to arrive. Desperate to find a way home, he begins a trek over some of the most forbidding landscape in the country.

Both Jake and Izzy are forced to make decisions and take on responsibilities they could never have imagined. They must draw on every shred of resourcefulness and courage as they try to save themselves and, ultimately, each other.

Light Years by Emily Ziff Griffin

Luisa is ready for her life to start. Five minutes ago. And she could be on her way, as her extraordinary coding skills have landed her a finalist spot for a fellowship sponsored by Thomas Bell, the world’s most brilliant and mercurial tech entrepreneur. Being chosen means funding, mentorship, and most importantly, freedom from her overbearing mother. Maybe Lu will even figure out how to control the rare condition that plagues her: whenever her emotions run high, her physical senses kick into overload, with waves of colour, sound, taste, and touch flooding her body.

But Luisa’s life is thrust into chaos as a deadly virus sweeps across the globe, killing thousands and sending her father into quarantine. When Lu receives a cryptic message from someone who might hold the key to stopping the epidemic, she knows she must do something to save her family—and the world.

A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer

Their new reality begins in just a matter of days.  On Day 56 of the Blustar Pandemic, sixteen-year-old Nadia’s mother dies, leaving Nadia to fend for herself and her younger brother, Rabbit. Both have been immunized against the virus, but they can’t be protected from what comes next. Their father taught them to “be the cockroach”—to adapt to and survive whatever comes their way. And that’s their mission.

Facing a lawless world of destruction and deprivation, Nadia and Rabbit drive from Seattle to their grandfather’s compound in West Virginia. The illness, fatigue, and hunger they endure along the way will all be worth it once they reach the compound.  Unless no one is waiting for them . . .

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius. That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.

When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race. Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?

Pandemic by Yvonne Ventresca

Even under the most normal circumstances, high school can be a painful and confusing time. Unfortunately, Lilianna’s circumstances are anything but normal. Only a few people know what caused her sudden change from model student to the withdrawn pessimist she has become, but her situation isn’t about to get any better. When people begin coming down with a quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat, Lil’s worst fears are realized. With her parents called away on business before the contagious outbreak-her father in Delaware covering the early stages of the disease and her mother in Hong Kong and unable to get a flight back to New Jersey-Lil’s town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread illness and fatal disaster. Now, she’s more alone than she’s been since the “incident” at her school months ago.

With friends and neighbors dying all around her, Lil does everything she can just to survive. But as the disease rages on, so does an unexpected tension as Lil is torn between an old ex and a new romantic interest. Just when it all seems too much, the cause of her original trauma shows up at her door. In this thrilling debut from author Yvonne Ventresca, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

 

 

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, nonfiction, ya, ya fiction, Young Adult, young adult fiction, young adult non-fiction

6 Ways To Up Your Summer Reading Life

June 18, 2018 |

One of the most fun series for me to write over on Book Riot involved highlighting ways to make your reading life more interesting each season. You can check out each of the editions here: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. In the spirit of those pieces and in honor of my favorite season making its grand apperance, I thought it’d be fun to highlight six ways to up your summer reading life, whether you have a vacation these next three months or not. Some are super practical while others are a little more of a stretch.

 

6 ideas for upping your summer reading life | summer reading | summer reading fun | ways to have fun this summer

 

Join your library’s summer reading club

Not all libraries have a summer reading club for adults, but many do. If your library runs one, take a moment to sign up and take part. The set up and demands of each varies by libraries. The one at my local library this year is entirely digital: I signed up and set a reading goal (20 books between June and August). For each book that I read and write a short review for, I earn $.50 in library money that can be used toward their used book sale, printing costs, or to cover fines.

Taking part on the summer reading club, even when entirely online, has meant that I’m going to my local library more to check out materials. I have piles of books at home, but I’m compelled to make the trip, and it never ceases to be a nice addition to my daily routine.

 

Participate in an Instagram Book Club

I know something is trendy when it shows up in my non-book related blog reading. Case in point: the growth of Instagram-based book clubs. There’s a fun feature about their variety on Apartment Therapy.

Instagram-based book clubs are low-pressure and allow for taking part in a social book activity without the pressure of being super social (or, really, finishing the book if it’s not your jam). Given the wide range of types of clubs, there’s something for every kind of reader, from those who want low commitment to those who are hoping to find a means to connect via social media initially, then to meet in person.

For readers who work at libraries or schools or are otherwise responsible for programming, taking part in an Instagram book club during the summer might provide the perfect opportunity for thinking about starting your own at your organization.

 

 

Research and experience the literary history of your town

Is your town the home of a famous — or even not-so-famous — writer or comic artist, past or present? Take an opportunity this summer to find out what literary gems your town may house.

If finding your town’s literary history proves to be too challenging, go on a literary treasure hunt. Find all of the Little Free Libraries in your community and visit them. See if there are any public art pieces or plaques dedicated to something literary. Take part, either in the audience or as a performer, for a local open mic night at a coffee shop or art space.

 

Set up a specific reading goal and pursue it in earnest

I spend every July reading nothing but backlist books. I go in with a goal in mind to catch up with a series or set of books that I haven’t picked up yet in my reading life and throw myself in whole-heartedly. Last year, I revisited the entire “Ramona” series by Beverly Cleary, as well as did my first full read-through of the Harry Potter series. This year’s plan is to read the Anne of Green Gables series and, perhaps, the Emily of New Moon series, too.

Using the long summer days to slow down and catch up on those missed titles is freeing. There’s less pressure to stay on top of every new release, and there’s more opportunity to really pursue the reading that you’ve always meant to get to but haven’t yet found the time for. Here is where you carve out that time.

If sitting down and getting to business is challenging, schedule it. Decide you’re going to read for yourself from 7 to 8 each morning or that you’ll give yourself time to go on a lengthy “book date” to your favorite park, coffee shop, or living room couch each week for three hours. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but scheduling the time can help you keep the obligation.

 

Throw an adaptation film viewing

Dreary day or series of days when you’ve got time to spend and were hoping to use outdoors? Take the opportunity to put on your favorite PJs and catch up on the streaming adaptations you’ve been meaning to watch.

If you are feeling up for a social event, set up a party where your closest bookish friends join you for an afternoon and evening of adaptation viewing. If you plan ahead, you could also choose to all read a book or two, watch the adaptation, then talk about the similarities, the differences, and what you would do differently (if anything!).

 

 

Host a cookbook party for one — or for more

Up your cooking skills and make use of the cookbook collection you have by taking one or more days each week to try out a new recipe. Another variation: grab some vintage cookbooks from a local antique store or peruse the selection of cookbooks at the library and try out various recipes from them.

If you want to live like some of your favorite literary characters, grab a cookbook based on your favorite fiction. There are a number of cookbooks based on children’s literature, and there are a number based on favorite adult books, too.

Feel up for a party? Invite your friends to join you for a potluck style dinner with the requirement each guest makes something from a cookbook at their home (or based on their favorite book or from a culinary tradition they don’t normally cook from — let your mind run wild here!) and then have them bring the recipe along to share.

 

What things do you plan on doing to add more reading fun to your life this summer? I’d love to hear about the things you plan on doing — and the things you think would be fun to do — in the comments.

Filed Under: reading life

This Week at Book Riot

June 15, 2018 |

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

  • A round-up of YA books set in Chicago.

 

  • There is an awesome retro box set of Baby-Sitters Club books coming.

 

  • Award-winning YA audiobooks to listen to this summer.

 

There’s a brand new episode of Hey YA up this week. Eric and I catch up on the latest in YA news, then dig into teens in the military and awesome adults in YA lit. Listen in!

 

 

Are you headed to ALA next week? If you are, I hope you say hey! Here’s where you can find me:

Saturday, June 23:

  • I’m hosting an informal meet-up at the Networking Uncommons at 8:30 AM. This’ll be an opportunity for librarians to talk to me in my Book Riot capacity — tell me how Book Riot can best help you. What would you like to see more of? I’m all ears!

 

  • At 2:30 PM, catch me on this (amazing) panel about highly readable nonfiction. I’m the YA voice here, and I’m pretty blown away to be on stage with such names!

 

  • Finally, I’ll be signing ARCs of (DON’T) Call Me Crazy at 4 pm in the Workman booth.

Filed Under: book riot

Fairy Tales Retold

June 13, 2018 |

I’ve loved fairy tales my whole life, and the publishing world isn’t tired of them yet either. (Give us another thousand years or so and check back.) I did a big roundup as part of a genre guide in 2014, then highlighted a whole slew of them in 2017. I review retold fairy tales periodically as I read them, but I’ve never put together a post where I discuss my favorites, including those I read before we started this blog in 2009. I thought it would be fun to showcase a few of the books that made an impression on me: those I remember fondly from my childhood, those I frequently recommend to others, and those I occasionally re-read. They span all ages and formats. What are a few of your faves – the ones you find yourself coming back to again and again?

For Kids

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

For a kid born in the mid to late 80s, this book is It when it comes to retold fairy tales. It is The Book, The Only Book, The Best of All the Fairy Tale Books. It’s a retelling of Cinderella about a girl named Ella who is cursed to always be obedient by “that fool of a fairy Lucinda” (I did not have to look up that quote, I remember it as the opening words from memory) who thought she was being benevolent. When Ella’s mother dies and an evil stepmother and two awful stepsisters enter the picture, you can imagine how bad forced obedience can be. But Ella is resilient, rebellious, and determined to break the curse. Levine’s story is set in a magical land with fairies and ogres and princes and a pitch-perfect romance for an eleven year old reader. The concept is clever and the writing is fresh and funny. Is there anyone who hasn’t yet read this book? If that’s you, get on it.

Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill

This is a graphic novel retelling of Rapunzel, but this time it’s a headstrong black princess, Amira, who rescues a white princess, Sadie, in the tower. They then go on a series of fun, small adventures, culminating in a bigger adventure where they confront the person who put Sadie in the tower in the first place. And yes, they fall in love, and there’s a sweet lesbian wedding in the epilogue, where the two girls are now adults and have accomplished much in their lives – and have come back to each other to live happily ever after. Not only is it important that this book presents a queer fairy tale for younger middle grade readers (an age group that’s tough to find comics for in the first place), it’s also just a really fun story with great art. I listed it as one of my top reads of 2017.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

Fractured fairy tales were hilarious when I was a kid, and this is the best of the lot. It’s Scieszka’s and Smith’s first collaboration, after which they would go on to do The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and Math Curse, also excellent and funny books – but nothing beats this first one. After reading it, you too may come away believing that the Big Bad Wolf has been unfairly maligned. He can’t help it if he has a cold and sneezes, nor can he help the fact that the pigs’ houses were so poorly constructed that they collapsed under the force of said sneezes, killing the pigs. And there’s no reason to waste a perfectly good ham sandwich…right? Scieszka and Smith are the perfect partners; the art is just as funny as the text.

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

I have a confession: I was never that into Reading Rainbow when I was a kid. Sure, I appreciated the fact that we were watching television in school, but the books? I felt I was pretty much over them. They were all picture books and I considered myself too old and advanced for such things. Still, there were some books that stuck with me, and this is one of them, due to a combination of its story (similar to the Cinderella story I couldn’t get enough of) and Steptoe’s striking art. I didn’t realize until I was a librarian how important this book and its creator were to the history of kidlit.

For Teens

Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann

Heppermann’s collection of poetry retells several classic fairy tales, putting a feminist spin on them and drawing parallels between the girls from the fairy tales and real, modern teenage girls. They’re poems about beauty and obsession and misogyny and sex and food and everything that goes into a teenage girl’s life: what’s expected of her, what’s forced upon her, what she wants for herself. I’m not generally much of a poetry reader, but these are short, accessible, and full of mystery and truth. This is a collection worth revisiting.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

I loved this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a story that’s always tricky to tell in a way that doesn’t make excuses for the Beast and create an inherently unequal or even abusive relationship between him and Beauty. But Hodge pulls it off remarkably well, and what’s more, she does so while also creating a fully-fleshed world of her own with a thorny protagonist and a plot that surprises at multiple turns. And the writing is gorgeous. This is one of my favorite retellings.

 

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

I first read this book in library school as part of a class, and I credit it with being the book that got me into graphic novels. The castle of the title – Castle Waiting – provides sanctuary for fairy tale characters who have fled bad situations, like abusive husbands (as with our main character Jain who is on the run in the beginning of the book) or discrimination and persecution (as with a group of bearded nuns who find a home there). It’s one of those stories that puts a bunch of fairy tale characters together and has them interact with each other, much like Bill Willingham’s Fables (see below), but Castle Waiting is much less action-heavy and focuses primarily on the characters, who are funny and caring and weird. You’ll wish you could hang out with them. Medley’s story is wonderfully feminist and a joy to get lost in.

Zel by Donna Jo Napoli

I read every single thing Donna Jo Napoli had written at the time when I was a young teenager, but Zel was (and is) my favorite. It’s a re-telling of Rapunzel without much change from the original story, but it’s fleshed out to the length of a YA novel. In so doing, Napoli expands upon the characters and their relationships and motivations, creates a memorable setting (including a market that Zel occasionally goes to, not always locked up in the tower), and gives her readers all the details the standard story omits. What I remember most is how dreamy her writing is here, almost like poetry. I felt swept away while reading this as a teenager.

For Adults

Fables by Bill Willingham

In Willingham’s imagination, all the people and creatures of fairy tales and fables live in the same magical shared universe. When the Adversary conquers the lands they live in, they escape to New York City and set up Fabletown in an apartment building. There, they make a new life, hiding their origins and abilities from the “mundys,” ordinary non-magic people like you and me. In the world of Fabletown, the Big Bad Wolf is the sheriff, King Cole is the mayor, Snow White is the deputy mayor, Cinderella runs a shoe store as a front for espionage, Beauty works in a bookshop, Prince Charming is a womanizer with several broken relationships under his belt, and Briar Rose gets rich off the stock market. There are a few main story arcs over the course of the series, but the first and best one involves the characters of Fabletown taking on the Adversary, whose identity must first be discovered. Willingham takes these characters in new and creative directions each volume, building their relationships with each other, playing upon and twisting their traditional backstories, and cleverly portraying just how they would survive in the human world. Decidedly mature, this comic book series shows that fairy tales were indeed originally meant for adults as much as children.

Snow White, Blood Red edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Datlow and Windling edited six different fairy tale anthologies in the nineties, and this is the first. As in most anthologies, the quality is hit and miss, but since it’s Datlow and Windling, there are many more hits than misses. I first found these as a teenager at my public library and go back to them when I want something short that I know will be good. Having so many different kinds of retold fairy tales in one book is a great way to sample the breadth and depth of the subgenre, to see all the fresh and exciting ways people continue to adapt these very old stories and make them new again.

Filed Under: fairy tales, Reviews

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • …
  • 575
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search

Archives

We dig the CYBILS

STACKED has participated in the annual CYBILS awards since 2009. Click the image to learn more.

© Copyright 2015 STACKED · All Rights Reserved · Site Designed by Designer Blogs