Fractured Fairytales

I have always loved fractured fairytales.  Turns out, Bear and J-jo love them too.  We were thrilled to see two such books in our Tiger Tales Books box when it arrived last month.

The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster by David Conway was instantly deemed a favorite by Bear and J-jo.  Both found the book delightfully funny.  The book starts out, "Little Miss Muffet was bored," so instantly, everyone can relate.  "She'd had enough of that scary little spider."  What Little Miss Muffet needs is a change, and so she goes "into the pages of the book to find another nursery rhyme to be in."  Miss Muffet finds it hard to find a good replacement for her rhyme as she soon finds that falling down the hill with Jack and Jill is painful and that running up and down a clock is embarrassing.  It's a circular tale that ends similarly to its beginning.  I always like these books as a teacher, as they lend themselves well to creative writing assignments.

The Great Fairy Tale Disaster, with its tongue-in-cheek humor,  has quickly become a favorite as well.  Bear liked it because she thought the wolf was silly.   "Once upon a time, there lived an old Big Bad Wolf. He no longer had any huff and puff to blow down the Three Little Pigs' houses and he'd had enough of falling into hot water."  So off goes the wolf in search of a "nice, relaxing fairy tale."  The wolf discovers it's not great to have to wear a dress to a ball, or be chased by a giant, or to have to be kissed by a prince.  As the book above, it is a circular tale that ends similarly to its beginning.

In both books, Melanie Williamson's illustrations are fun and silly and leave you wishing you could jump into the book to join in the action.  I love all the facial expressions she manages to create.

These would be fun additions to a stocking at Christmas for the 2.5 to 7 year old crowd.