Customer Reviews

Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book contains the funniest fractured fairy tales I have ever read. The stories are long, but a great read for reluctant readers in the 3-6 grade range. The library that I work at owns this book, but I like it so much, I had to buy my own copy! A must have for storytellers and teachers.

What is it with this guy? I'll tell you something, he found a niche and is really working it. It's a good thing he works it well!!

Gregory Maguire (author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked, among many others) turns well-known fairy tales on their heel (or hoof, paw, sticky digit...whatever) in Leaping Beauty, and Other Animal Fairy Tales. This book, recommended for youth 8-12 but really enjoyable for all, tells us the untold stories of characters like Goldiefox and the Three Chicks, So What and the Seven Giraffes, and Leaping Beauty herself. There are 8 stories in all, and certainly best enjoyed read aloud.

Though Maguire tones down his acerbic wit for the young crowd, these stories leave plenty of opportunities for uncomfortable conversation with your child. For instance, they may ask you, "Exactly what is a hot toddy?" or "Why would the bad guy make someone wear concrete boots?". Then again, the actual fairy tales from Brothers Grimm were pretty controversial in their own way, too. It's all just good fun, though, and a great way to show kids that every story has two (or more!) sides.

Gregory Maguire, author of such fairy tale revisionist histories as Wicked and Mirror, Mirror, serves up the traditional glass slipper, pumpkin coach and gingerbread house with a generous helping of irreverence and irony. The humor relies heavily on modern satire, which many adults will enjoy.

One of the most amusing books, clean jokes, fun for kids and entertaining for adults.

My niece wanted this book for Christmas, and it was exactly what I was looking for.

i love how gregory maguire changed normal fairy tales into such funny stories!i ended up reading it 10 or 13 times!i would definetly reccomend it.

easy reading . had to think of the original stories to see the changes. great imagination that is for sure. I do like G Maguire books.

This collection of fractured fairy tales as this growing genre is getting to become known does vary dramatically from story to story. Leaping Beauty the title story is pretty average and pretty much the original just with animal characters but the higher quality where the author has included a bit of his own creativity and humour that you were probably looking for is achieved with later stories such as Rumplesnakeskin, Hamster and Gerbil and Goldiefox and the Three Chickens. Overall this collection has enough good stories to check it out if it's reasonably priced or on the shelf in your local library but I wouldn't fork out a lot of money for it.

Much better competitors in this genre are out there such as Porkenstein by Kathryn Laskya sequel to the Three Little Pigs where the remaining and now very lonely pig decides to make a new friend. Whatever Happened to ....?: The Ultimate Sequels Book by Adrian Mourby is another great read containing sequels of many classic tales where we find out the wolf was framed, what became of the wooden boy when Pinocchio became real etc. Once upon a crime tr by various authors contains Parodies of classic fairy tales as well as short stories that compare modern type crimes to Black Forrest style tales. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times by James Finn Garner parodies classic fairy tales while also paying out right wing politically correct extremists, a few sequels also exist but they're not as good the original. Who can forget the classic 80's Peter and the Wolf: Carnival of the Animals, Pt. II a narrative tale read by Weird Al Yankovic on CD, the funniest parody of a fairy tale ever done.

I really enjoyed this latest offering from Gregory Maguire. Having loved two of his adult novels, Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, I thought I'd give this one a try. I wasn't disappointed! These stories should appeal to both children and adults, although some of the jokes might go over a younger child's head. I think this book would work really well as a read-aloud, too. My favorite story was Cinder-Elephant. The whimsical line drawings really added to the fun of the book. I heartily recommend this book to everyone!

Although Gregory Maguire has been writing children's books for years, he is probably best known for his recent adult retellings of The Wizard of Oz (WICKED), Cinderella (CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER), and Snow White (MIRROR MIRROR). Now, with LEAPING BEAUTY, Maguire turns his considerable creative retelling talents back to a younger audience, with a collection of eight fractured fairy tales featuring animals in the lead roles.

The title story (which opens the book) is actually one of the weakest of the bunch, as Maguire chooses a fairly straightforward approach to tell of the young frog princess who is transformed from Weeping Beauty to Sleeping Beauty to Leaping Beauty. More entertaining are the later stories, such as "Hamster and Gerbil," a pair of adopted siblings who happen upon a cottage made of pet food and its owner, a nefarious porcupine who is also a gourmet cook.

It seems that Maguire had a great deal of fun coming up with the names of stories and characters. There's Little Red Robin Hood, who wanted "to rob the rich birds of the forest and give their worms to the poor birds of the forest." And there's the heroine of "Rumplesnakeskin," a lovely blonde sheep named Norma Jean, who wears tight sweaters and desperately wants to break into the movies.

Some of this might go over young readers' heads, but they'll still enjoy Maguire's clever plot twists and his sometimes snarky humor. LEAPING BEAUTY is a great next step for kids who have grown out of THE STINKY CHEESE MAN but who are not yet ready for the more sophisticated fairy tale retellings of Robin McKinley or Donna Jo Napoli.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl