Top Ten Fairytale Retellings

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! I LOVE fairy tale retellings, so this is a perfect topic for me! I haven't read as many of these in recent years though, so I look forward to recommendations from everyone's lists.

1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine



Ella Enchanted is my gold standard for fairytale retellings since it was my first, at least that I remember. I didn't even understand it was based on Cinderella until halfway through because the world and characters are so complete. One of my favorite books of all time, period.

2. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine



Not as magical as Ella Enchanted (to be fair, I read it when I was much older), but this retelling of Snow White set in the same world is engaging nontheless.

3. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire



I am a huge Maguire fan, and though I don't think Wicked counts as a fairytale retelling, Ugly Stepsister certainly does! Like Wicked, Maguire transforms an antagonist into the protagonist of her own tale.

4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer



I just read Cinder, and I'm really excited about it. Even more so than Ella Enchanted, the world of Cinder takes on a life of its own, but I appreciated the clever nods to the Cinderella prototype. Looking forward to Scarlet and Cress!

5. Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Al-Mohamed



As you know, I loved this steampunk reinvention of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

6. "Psyche's Dark Night" by Francesca Lia Block



It's a myth retelling, but it's from a book of reworked fairy tales (My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me). Just a really cute modern rethinking of Cupid and Psyche.

I'm familiar with more fairytale retellings, but, for example, I found a lot of the stories in My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me too violent and gruesome. I wasn't a huge fan of Maguire's Snow White retelling Mirror Mirror for similar reasons, nor of Karen Maitland's Company of Liars. Company of Liars is based on The Canterbury Tales, but has a character from the story of the swan princes.

In other media, I am a fan of Tangled, Frozen, the TV show "Once Upon a Time," and the musical "Into the Woods." Also, the Cinderella musical with Brandi and Bernadette Peters.