Fairy tales and legends are some of our longest-enduring stories. Often they were passed down by verbal storytelling for generations before eventually being collected and written down by people such as Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Geoffrey of Monmouth. Sometimes these collectors attempted to keep the stories as they had always been told, others made their own changes to them, following in the tradition of the many verbal storytellers who came before. This tradition of taking stories and changing them to better fit the author's vision for them has continued into the modern day, with the following books being some of my personal favorite re-imaginings. - Logan
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain
This lesser-known work by Mark Twain is one of my personal favorite books. It follows the 19th-century Hank Morgan. who gets knocked out in a fight and awakens in King Arthur’s England. He decides to do his best to “modernize” the people of the time, befriending, and becoming enemies with, everyone from Merlin to Arthur himself.
Half Upon A Time
by James Riley
In the village of Giant's Hand, Jack's grandfather has been pushing him to find a princess and get married, so when a young lady falls out of the sky wearing a shirt that says "Punk Princess" and she tells Jack that her grandmother, who looks suspiciously like the long-missing Snow White, has been kidnapped, Jack decides to help her.
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The Island of Dr. Libris
by Chris Grabenstein
Twelve-year-old Billy is spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on. Besides the security cameras everywhere, there’s Dr. Libris’s private bookcase. Whenever Billy opens the books inside, he can hear sounds coming from the island in the middle of the lake. The clash of swords. The twang of arrows. Sometimes he can even feel the ground shaking. It’s almost as if the stories he’s reading are coming to life! But that’s impossible . . . isn’t it?
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The Looking Glass Wars
by Frank Beddor
When her evil Aunt Redd kills her parents and seizes the throne, young Alyss Heart is forced to flee Wonderland through the Pool of Tears. She finds herself living in Victorian Oxford as Alice Liddell and struggles to keep memories of her kingdom intact until she can return and claim her rightful throne.
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The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
by Jon Sciezka
You may have thought you knew what happened in the story of The Three Little Pigs, but the Wolf is here to tell his own side of the story. Will you trust Wolf's tale, or do you think he is just full of baloney (in addition to ham).
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Hoodwinked
DVD
When the police arrive at Granny's cottage in the woods to answer a domestic disturbance call, it looks like another open-and-shut case. But Little Red Riding Hood, Granny, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Woodsman are not your usual suspects as they have their own dark secrets, wily deceptions, and conflicting accounts of the crime.
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail
DVD
In this spoof of the legend of King Arthur, the king recruits the Knights of the Round Table. He is soon joined by Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Chaste and the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir- Lancelot, and Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film. God sends them on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Along the way they encounter a plague-ridden community, the Knights who say Ni, a killer rabbit, and more.
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Shrek
DVD
Shrek is duped into a daring quest to rescue feisty Princess Fiona, with the help of his lovable loudmouthed Donkey, and win back the deed to his beloved swamp from scheming Lord Farquaad.
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Once Upon A Time
TV DVD
On her 28th birthday, Emma Swan meets Henry, the son she gave up for adoption 10 years ago. Henry believes Emma is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, prophesied to break a powerful curse. Unconvinced, Emma returns Henry to Storybrooke, where she encounters the enigmatic Mr. Gold and clashes with Mayor Regina Mills, the boy's adoptive mother, who Henry insists is none other than the Evil Queen!
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About the Author
Logan is a Circulation Clerk and started working at EPL in May of 2021. He is studying History at SIUE, and he enjoys reading Fantasy and Sci-Fi in particular, but will give pretty much anything a try.