Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times (Hardcover)

by James Finn Garner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
James Finn Garner has taken 12 time-tested tales and retold them with the newfound sensitivity of our times. Here's a snippet from "Little Red Riding Hood":

The wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone."

Red Riding Hood said, "I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way."

Leap into a fairy-tale world where trolls are "dirt-accomplished and odor-enhanced," witches are "kindness-impaired," and Cinderella wears a gown "woven of silk stolen from unsuspecting silkworms." We can only regret that Garner had to exclude "The Duckling That Was Judged on Its Personal Merits and Not on Its Physical Appearance" for space reasons.

From Publishers Weekly
In this thin book Garner proposes to create "meaningful literature that is totally free from bias and purged from the influence of its flawed cultural past." The results are extremely funny. Updated to account for modern political sensibilities, these revisionist folktales reflect wit and an engaging knack for irony. In "Little Red Riding Hood," Grandma exacts her feminist revenge on the woodchopper, who "assumes that womyn and wolves can't solve their own problems without a man's help." In "The Frog Prince," the princess, now an "eco-feminist warrior," discovers that her dream frog is not a prince, but a real-estate developer. In other tales, Rapunzel becomes a self-reliant coffee-house singer and the Three Little Pigs armed guerrillas, while cultural imperialists such as The Big Bad Wolf and Goldilocks get what has been coming to them for centuries. The author strikes just the right tone here: clever, with more than a touch of self-awareness. And while each of these tales is short and easily digestible, in this case quickly read does not equal quickly forgotten. After one finishes this collection, "happily ever after" will never seem quite the same.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 79 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 13th Pntg. edition (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002542730X
• ISBN-13: 978-0025427303
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #324,090 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHANGING TIMES. A BIT SAD AND A BIT SCARY., February 14, 2008

By	D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I had the pleasure of reading this one when it was first published in 1994 (now keep in mind, that was not that long ago...this is important). At the time I found the book to be hilarious. The author has taken a collection of some of our favorite bedtime stories, fairy tales, if you will, and rewritten them to make them "politically correct." Some of the stories the author has modified are Little Red Riding Hood, Chicken Little, Rumpelstiltskin, The Billy Goat Gruffs, Cinderella, The Frog Prince and Jack and the Beanstalk. There are more, but this gives you some idea of the content.

I recently reread this work. My, what a difference. While I still enjoyed the stories, I found them to be not quite as funny as I did during my first reading. I also read quite a number of the reviews that are posted here addressing this work, many of which are quite good, several drew different conclusions, and some were written by the clueless. I thought and thought on this matter, wondering why I did not snicker the same as before, then I realized....I, and apparently many others, have become completely or partially desensitized! It is not the author's fault, it is our fault and the fault (if fault it indeed is) of our society! What was simply funny in 1994, the satire used at that time, simply does not work as well today as it did then because so much of what was satirized at that time, has now become reality. We are use to the words "logically challenged" rather than simply "stupid." We actually have become the thing that the author was satirizing! This, for me, makes this book extremely interesting!

The author has done a very nice job of lampooning our politically correct society. As pointed out by several reviewers, yes, the author is indeed trite at times. The thing is, that when this work was first published, what is considered trite now, was not at that time. If you doubt this, then listen closely to the evening news for a few nights running. Now I do agree with a number of reviewers in that these stories should not be read all in one setting. Spread them out. Reading them back to back can be a bit of a chore and they do loose their effect.

Be-that-as-it-may, the book is well written, fun to read, and I think, even more to day than it was when it was first written, a reflection on us as a society. Poking fun at ourselves is healthy, poking fun at the way we act as a society is healthy. On the other hand, taking this work, and most others of this genre too seriously is not really all that good. Recommend this one highly. It is well written, well done and well worth the read.

Don Blankenship

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!, November 27, 2002

By	Andi Miller (Caddo Mills, TX) - See all my reviews

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories is a hilarious romp through some of your favorite fairytales as you've never seen them before. In a world where it's becoming increasingly important to maintain a high level of political correctness, sometimes it's fun to sit back and laugh at the whole thing. Let's face it...who's never heard a phrase so politically correct that you had no idea what the person was talking about? Garner manages to maximize his PC'ness to an outlandish degree and still maintain the level of understanding and hilarity. After reading this book you will never think of Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, and a host of others quite the same way again. I'm off to order the other two books in the series, because this one is such a delightful little gem.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, February 8, 2006

A Kid's Review

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories

This book is great! Two thumbs up and a pat on the back to James Finn Garner. He adapted the original bedtime story classics to become "politically correct" and created a one of a kind read. Garner is straining to be non-insulting to any group imaginable. Snow White becomes "melanin challenged", Chicken Little becomes "cranially under enhanced" and (my personal favorite), The Three Bears Family becomes an "anthropomorphic nuclear family".
It was a good read for me because it was funny (in a highly satirical way) and in a way is mocking some of the worlds political leaders. Sometimes they themselves struggle to be politically correct and not insulting to all groups of people, they end up sounding ridiculous! For example; the government Ireland banned the word "brainstorm" due to the fact it might offend people with cranial disabilities. People that might like this book are people who enjoy political satire, or just need a break from other genres. I found that reading humor often clears your mind.