October 2021
Fairy/Folk Tales and nursery rhymes are classic for a reason. They have withstood the test of time – though they may have had some alterations or been Disney-fied over the years – and show up often in curriculum and classrooms. One of my favorite sub-genres is the twisted or fractured tales. Seeing the creative and unique ways authors approach telling these familiar tales in new, updated, humorous, contemporary, and exciting ways is always interesting. And we should not only use the “classic” tales we may be most familiar with in the United States. Cultures around the world have tales that are familiar to many – or can become so through sharing the right picture book with our students. I hope you enjoy this month’s booklist and find some new Tales with a Twist to share during your #ClassroomBookADay read alouds this year!

Check out this video of my conversation with Bethan Woollvin, author/illustrator of some of my favorite fairy tale twists! I was thrilled to be able to chat with her about her books, her inspiration, and what’s next. Thank you, Bethan, for the delightful conversation!

Follett Classroom has partnered with me to spread the #ClassroomBookADay message. As part of that, my themed picture book recommendation lists are housed in Titlewave, one of my favorite free databases for looking up all things related to book information! Don’t have your free account? Grab it today.

Picture Book Tales with a Twist | October 2021

It’s Not Jack and the Beanstalk ( Funk & Taylor)
It’s Not Hansel and Gretel (Funk & Taylor)
It’s Not Little Red Riding Hood ( Funk & Taylor)
Not Quite Snow White (Franklin & Glenn)
Prince & Knight (Haack & Lewis)
Little Roja Riding Hood (Elya & Guevara)
Little Red Writing (Holub & Sweet)
The Three Ninja Pigs (Schwartz & Santat)
Little Red (Woollvin)
Rapunzel (Woollvin)
Hansel & Gretel (Woollvin)
The Cat, the Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf, & Grandma (Fox & Fox)
Little Red Fort (Maier & Sanchez)
La Princesa and the Pea (Elya & Martinez-Neal)
I Thought This Was a Bear Book (Lazar & Davies)
A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale (Klostermann & Mantle)
The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess (Gauld)
Where’s Halmoni? (Kim)
Mary Had a Little Glam (Sauer & Brantley-Newton)
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again (Santat)

You can shop this list & many more for your personal or classroom collection at my Bookshop page!