Today, 18 picture books later(!), I am thrilled to host Josh for a fantastic GUEST POST (not to be missed!) on how he writes twisted tales along with the COVER REVEAL of the next book in the It’s NOT… a Fairy Tale series: It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs.

If you don’t already know all of these titles, make sure you check them out soon! I love a good twisted tale – I even did a themed recommendation list for the genre earlier this school year! Josh has been a huge supporter of #ClassroomBookADay from the very beginning, and his books have often been recommended.

In the It’s NOT… a Fairy Tale series Josh adds the perspective of characters who question the narrator trying to hold them to the constraints of the classic tales. Paired with Edwardian Taylor’s exuberant, cartoonish illustrations, they are a joy to read and share. I have the best memories of Julys past sitting in the lobby of a hotel with fellow Nerdy friends doing some extremely entertaining readers theater readings of the upcoming book from Josh’s laptop so we could all get a sneak peek. And there was never a lack of laughter or joy. Sharing these books with kids elicits much of the same amusement.

Coming 10.25.22… It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs!

In this fairy tale mashup, a fourth little pig attempts to usurp storytelling duties from the narrator, causing the beloved tale to veer off course into chaos.

Welcome to the blog, Josh!

It’s good to “see” you again. I’m eager to hear your insights into how you take classic tales & twist them for the entertainment of all. And I know one of my 3rd grade teachers, who is doing a unit on twisting classic tales right now, will be especially thrilled to have this to share with our students. Thank you for visiting & letting me reveal the super fun cover of It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs! I particularly love the hot air balloon.

Hey, Jillian! Thanks so much for letting me visit and share some big news – the cover of the 4th (!!) book in the It’s Not a Fairy Tale series that Edwardian Taylor and I have been working on.

I thought I’d also share a little about how (and why) I write fractured fairy tales. (by “I thought” I mean that Jillian suggested this might be useful to educators and students who teach and write fractured fairy tales … and I agreed because Jillian knows her stuff)

Start by asking “What if …?”

One of my favorite prompts that fits almost any situation is asking the “What if?” question – and then writing a story about what follows.

• What if … the letter R disappeared from existence?
• What if … my pen pal was a dragon?
• What if … there was only one drop of syrup left in the bottle?

This also works incredibly well for fracturing fairy tales.

• What if … Little Red Riding Hood was a pencil?
• What if … The Three Little Pigs were ninjas?
• What if … Cinderella lived in space?

Now hold that thought.

Bad Choice Make Good Stories

I learned this five word lesson from author Erin Dionne (who even wrote a craft book with this title).

When characters make bad choices and that leads to conflict and tension (and usually more bad choices). Without conflict and tension, a story is not really a story – it’s just a bunch of stuff that happens. And often kind of boring.

But I’d always noticed that characters in fairy tales often make really bad choices. Choices so bad that they’re almost unbelievable and unrealistic – in a ‘doesn’t make sense a character would ever do that’ kind of way. For example:

If a giant beanstalk grew in your backyard overnight, what would be the first thing you’d do?

1. Climb the beanstalk all the way to the clouds, break into a giant’s home, and steal gold from the giant or
2. Call a gardener.

I’d probably go with b.

If you lived in the woods your entire life, don’t you think you’d know that if you dropped breadcrumbs on the ground, animals would probably eat them? I mean, really?!

And maybe worst of all, if you walked into your grandmother’s house and in your grandmother’s bed was a furry, four-legged, talking wolf, wouldn’t you know it wasn’t your grandmother? Obviously you would.

Put it all together

So if we need bad choices to make a good story, but not these bad choices, what can we do? Ask “What if …?”

What if … the characters in the fairy tale were smart and didn’t want to make the traditional bad choices?

What if … the bad choices in OUR story are made by the narrator instead of the smart fairy tale characters?

For example:

What if … the bad choice is the narrator encouraging Jack to steal from a giant, but Jack doesn’t want to?

What if … the bad choice is the narrator trying to get Hansel and Gretel to drop breadcrumbs in the woods, but they won’t because “who drops breadcrumbs on the ground during a famine?”?

What if … the bad choice is the narrator trying to convince Little Red that a wolf is actually her grandmother?

In short, I’ve essentially flipped the format of the story and made the unseen narrator the main character and the one who makes mistakes and (possibly) learns a lesson.

I also added lots of other twists like making the giant a vegan named Fred, introducing a unicorn friend to Gretel and Hansel, having Captain Hook fill in for an ill wolf in Little Red’s story, and more.

And now for the big news!

So what’s the deal with It’s Not the Three Little Pigs? What bad choices will the narrator make in this fractured fairy tale? (and what other silly twists are added?)

Here’s what the publisher says:

Meet the three (ahem—four!) little pigs as they convince the narrator to tell a slightly different version of their fairy tale:

First there’s Alan, the one pig in the bunch who is actually a builder. He’s got a BIG problem with building a home out of flimsy straw. Next there’s Alfred, who wants to be an actor and wouldn’t dream of getting his hands dirty. Then we have Alvin, whose dream is to be . . . a pumpkin. Last but not least is Alison, the fourth pig who is ready to bring some flair to this story, if only she can get the narrator to agree to a few changes. . . . And what about that wolf?

Grab your jet-packs and get ready for this rollicking retelling of the popular tale.

Thanks so much for letting me stop by, Jillian!

It’s Not the Three Little Pigs, written by Josh Funk, illustrated by Edwardian Taylor, and published by Two Lions, is available for pre-order NOW and will be available on October 25th, 2022.

Josh Funk writes silly stories such as the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series (including The Case of the Stinky Stench, Mission Defrostable, Short & Sweet, and the forthcoming The Great Caper Caper), the How to Code with Pearl and Pascal series (including How to Code a Sandcastle and How to Code a Rollercoaster), the It’s Not a Fairy Tale series (including ​It’s Not Jack and the Beanstalk, It’s Not Hansel and Gretel, It’s Not Little Red Riding Hood, and the forthcoming It’s Not the Three Little Pigs in the fall of 2022), the A Story of Patience & Fortitude series in conjunction with the New York Public Library (including Lost in the Library and Where Is Our Library?), Dear Dragon, Albie Newton, Pirasaurs!, A Night at the Bookstore: A Barnsie & Noble Adventure, and coming soon: My Pet Feet in the summer of 2022 and Dear Unicorn in the fall of 2023!

Since the fall of 2015, Josh has visited (or virtually visited) over 500 schools, classrooms, and libraries and he is a board member of The Writers’ Loft in Hudson, MA.

Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes manuscripts.

Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys _______ during ________ and has always loved __________. He has played ____________ since age __ and his biggest fear in life is being eaten by a __________.

For more information about Josh Funk, visit him at www.joshfunkbooks.com and on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @joshfunkbooks.

Title: SCARLET (Lunar Chronicles #2, sequel to CINDER)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (a Macmillan imprint)
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Number of Pages: 464
Source of Book: Signed ARC from publisher at ALA

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling
Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if
she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway
around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out
there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and
the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet
encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her
grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he
clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf
work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths
with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious
Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her
king, her prisoner.

I think I enjoyed SCARLET even more than CINDER. Much of that has to do with the way Marissa Meyer wrote the characters of Scarlet and Wolf and how much I enjoyed reading their parts of the story. I do love a story told in multiple voices, and the way in which the stories of Scarlet and Cinder started off on opposite sides of the wold and slowly worked their way together was well done. However, I was enjoying Scarlet and Wolf so much early on that I rushed through the Cinder chapters a little bit to get back to the ones I was enjoying more. As it went on though, I remembered why I liked Cinder, especially with her new sidekick (who is quite entertaining), and as I saw how it was all coming together, it was hard to stop reading.

The way Marissa Meyer has created this world in which her characters live, and how their stories are all coming together (and will continue to do so in the final two books of the series) is intriguing to me as a reader. It is a complicated, well-drawn world, but it has characters that I really start to care about quite a bit. These characters are flawed and scared and insecure, but they are girls who become strong in their struggles. Both Scarlet and Cinder are having to become stronger than they every imagined they would have to as they find out more and more about what’s going on in their larger world. They also sometimes have to rely on and sometimes have to save those who are traveling this journey with them.

One of the most interesting things about this story is the way that Meyer weaves in elements of the original fairy tale, but in a totally modern twisty way. If you read CINDER, I absolutely recommend that you read SCARLET. I enjoyed seeing where Cinder’s story is headed with the new information she learned at the end of the first book, and I was drawn even more into the story by the introduction of Scarlet and Wolf and the discoveries that are made with the two of them and everything they have to go through in this story. I can’t wait to see where they all end up in the next book, CRESS, based on Rapunzel, coming in 2014, and then WINTER, based on Snow White , in 2015. It’ll be a long wait, but if this book is any indication, it will be worth it.

Title: BREADCRUMBS
Author: Anne Ursu
Publisher: Walden Pond Press (A HarperCollins Children’s imprint)
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Number of Pages: 313
Source of Book: ARC requested from publisher

Goodreads Summary:
Once upon a time, Hazel
and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were
six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters
together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now
that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best
friends. But they couldn’t help it – Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you
only read about in books. And they didn’t fit anywhere else.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

BREADCRUMBS is a beautifully told tale of friendship, faith, hope, and magic. It’s starts off in the real-world as we get to know more about Hazel’s friendship with her neighbor Jack. And then something happens, and Jack changes, and then disappears. The second part of the book takes place in the woods as Hazel steps into a fantasy world that she didn’t know was there. Overall the style was really unique in the way the narrator seemed to
speak directly to the reader with asides at times, so I felt more
involved and a part of the story. There are chapters interjected that
tell what’s happening in the fantasy world and the stories are
interwoven seamlessly.

Hazel believes in magic and fantasy. She also believes in her friendship with Jack because he’s pretty much her only friend in her new school, so when he changes toward her and that ends, she doesn’t know what to do. But when she finds out that Jack has disappeared into the woods, she knows she needs to save him. She has so much faith in her friendship with Jack that she is willing to do whatever she can to save her friend. The fantasy elements of classic tales that occur in each successive chapter in the woods are engaging and meaningful.

This story is about belonging and believing and doing what’s right even when no one believes in you.  It’s about trusting your instincts and staying true to who you are. It’s about starting a journey and learning from the outcomes. One of the most significant lines to me was a moment of understanding for Hazel, “This is what happens on journeys-the things you find aren’t necessarily the things you had gone looking for.” It’s all of those things wrapped up in beautiful prose and a masterful way of telling this fantasy story. This fantasy story is like a breath of fresh air wrapped in a warm blanket. This one comes out next week and will be a wonderful addition to a middle grades collection. It releases in one month, so get your pre-orders in now.

Author: Janette Rallison
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release Date: Hardcover-January 6, 2009 Paperback-December 22, 2009
Number of Pages: 320
How I Got It: Bought the paperback because I got an ARC of the sequel at the ALAN Workshop
Author’s Website: www.janetterallison.com

Goodreads Summary:
After her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah Delano wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter Chrissy (Chrysanthemum) Everstar: Savannah’s gum-chewing, cell phone–carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Showing why she’s only Fair—because she’s not a very good fairy student—Chrissy mistakenly sends Savannah back in time to the Middle Ages, first as Cinderella, then as Snow White. Finally she sends Tristan, a boy in Savannah’s class, back instead to turn him into her prom-worthy prince. When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, they must team up to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy Black Knight. Laughs abound in this clever fairy tale twist from a master of romantic comedy.
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This book is just a fun read. Although Savannah at first seems to be the character that you love to hate, she actually ends up as a really sympathetic character who I was rooting for. I wanted her to get her happy, fairy tale ending, but I wouldn’t have thought I’d get there from how I felt about her at the start of the story. I guess that just shows how good of a job Rallison did in writing these characters. I love a well-written sassy, sarcastic character, and this book had that in both Savannah and Chrissy. Their misinterpretations of each other and comical misunderstandings kept me giggling to myself throughout the whole book. Chrissy is hysterical from her flamboyant style to her attitude toward her job.

It was so fun to see a twisted fairy tale told in this way. Chrissy really is only Fair as a Godmother because she can’t manage to do the job correctly. First Savannah goes back to the Cinderella story, which, in “real life’ is not like the fairy tale version. The prince is not so great. This is due to Chrissy not really listening completely – although she says it’s because Savannah is not being clear in her wishes. Then, she accidentally gets sent back to be Snow White. Finally, she has to go back herself to “rescue” the boy who could be her prince at home, but is sent back to become a real prince in fairy tale times.

This book is time travel; and wishes with fairy godmothers; and the world of fairy tales; and a girl coming into her own and finding herself and who she really wants to be. Savannah has a journey that is enjoyable to follow along with, and it gets so much better once she starts to take charge of her own destiny.

3 1/2 STARS for MY FAIR GODMOTHER

The sequel is MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER, releasing April 12, 2011. I’ll definitely pick it up (especially since I have an ARC) the next time I want a light-hearted, fun read.

Title: ASH
Author: Malinda Lo
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Release Date: August 11, 2009
Number of Pages: 264
How I Got It: Free Hardcover at ALAN Workshop
Author’s Website: www.malindalo.com

Goodreads Summary:
In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.
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I had heard this title quite a bit and was looking forward to reading it once I got it.  This book has lyrical writing creating a fantasy world retelling of the Cinderella story. I enjoy reading retellings of Cinderella stories, the classic little-girl fantasy, and this one took it in a completely different direction. The story just flows with gorgeous detail and a real struggle between two worlds for Ash. I was pulled into the story because of the writing and the main character from the beginning, as I compared it to what I expected of a retelling. Following Ash’s journey, and the two options she had to choose between, created a dynamic that kept me reading. I thought the LGBT aspect of the story was beautifully and subtly done. It was honest and true and realistic. When I heard Malinda Lo speak, she said that in the world she created it was completely accepted as a part of their society because it wasn’t anything people thought twice about. That’s why it’s not made to be a big deal in the book. I felt bad for Ash for her circumstances in the beginning, but appreciated when she got out there and started making her own choices. Lo’s lyrical fantasy world is calming and beautiful.

3.5 STARS for ASH

I also got an ARC of the prequel Huntress, releasing on April 5, 2011, and am looking forward to revisiting this world when I read that one.