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Label: audible.com
Manufacturer: audible.com
Publisher: audible.com
Studio: audible.com
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Product Description:
Who better to wreak havoc with eight beloved fairy tales than Gregory Maguire, the brilliant, funny, and nationally best-selling author of the adult novel Wicked as well as the hilarious middle-grade series the Hamlet Chronicles. Zany animals of all species run through these fractured tales with alarming speed and dexterity. Who would have thought that the ageless, exquisite Cinderella could be recast as the silly story of an enormous yet lovable elephant who plods along to the ball with glass pie plates on her feet; or that Sleeping Beauty, that most regal of all fairy tales, could be twisted into the story of a frog with a most unusual and promising dance career? Get ready to meet a gorilla queen and a psycho chimp, seven giant giraffes, and one very bad walrus. Accompanying these hilarious stories are delightfully witty pictures by Chris L. Demarest, master of black line and droll humor.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - leaping
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.
Rating:  - Stories Vary in Quality
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. ... Read More
Rating: - Back in the Jeanstalk
Maguire strikes again, this time putting all the familiar titles through the wringer. Most of his metamorphoses are clever, but "So What and the Seven Giraffes" seems to be stretching things (no pun intended) a bit. What's next, Mr. Maguire - a take-off on the Road Runner called "Beepers Creepers"? Thumbs not exactly up on this one. I recommend The War of Mirrors.
Rating: - To Be Swallowed
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.
Rating: - Clever
Lovers of word play will appreciate this book. The writer's newfound popularity, based on the success of "Wicked", has brought his other works to light to be enjoyed for any number of reasons.
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