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Probably because I poured over several volumes of fairy tales when I was younger, I've always had a fondness for fairy tale retellings. I was first hooked by Beauty by Robin McKinley. From there, I read a good deal of Mckinley's books and went onto any I could find.

Recently, Simon Pulse has been releasing a series of fairy tale retellings that mix fantasy with historical fiction. They're written by an assortment of authors, but my favorite at this point is Cameron dokey because she always brings a unique twist to the tale.

So, any book titles or comments?

I would reccomend Tithe by Holly Black. I read it a while ago and it was one of my favorites. It's a mixture of a lot of fairy tales.

Gail Carson Levine does some pretty funny retellings.

holly black wrote tithe. i wouldn't say that her books are retellings of fairy tales. rather that they bring fairytale elements into a modern setting. her books are okay, but they're kid of pulpy. her female protagonists are a bit ick. roiben has the personality of a fence post, but he's pretty. heh. valiant was okay, but mostly because of the character ravus.

zel by donna jo napoli is a beautiful retelling of the rapunzel fairytale.

daughter of the forest by juliet marillier is a rework of the seven swans fairytale. it's quite harrowing, but it's also beautifully done and will get under your skin if you let it.

briar rose by jane yolen is a retelling of sleeping beauty woven in with a holocaust survivor's story.

i'm sure there are a couple of others that i've read, but i can't think of them straight off.

heh, I prefer t he ORIGINAL fairy tales. The only thing that comes close to a retelling that I like is Just Ella, and it's really just a continuation. I makes me sad how many people I come across who don't know the truth behind the popular fairy tales! ANd my favorite fairy tale wasn't even on your list T.T

It's The Children of Lir, just in case you were wondering.

I love books that retell fairy tales.

Briair Rose by Jane Yolen was really good. It puts Sleeping Beauty into WWII. A woman's grandmother always told her the story Sleeping Beauty when she was a girl and after she dies, she goes to Europe investigating the Haulocaust. She finds out that her grandmother wasn't just crazy when she thought she was Sleeping Beauty, it was a metaphor to her life.

Beast by Donna Jo Napoli was the best Beauty and the Beast retelling I've ever read. It tells the stroy from the Beast's point of view starting when he was a prince in Persia and how a fairy turning him into a lion. He then escaped to France because he father would have killed him in the lion hunt.

I did read that in eighth grade. I wasn't too fond of it but I did like the mixing of fairy tale and historical fiction.

Ironside's gone to the publisher. So the third in the trilogy may have a release date sometime in the near future!

Mr. Norrell & Jonathon Strange is an odd yet satisfying tome that combines folklore about magicians, while inventing it's own history as it goes along. The Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K Hamilton also has interesting theories as to the practices of the fae. Of course, no one can discredit Gregory Maguire's work of retelling fairy tales from an unexpected point of view.