Once Upon A Fairy Tale

From wicked queens, beautiful princesses, elves, monsters, and goblins to giants, glass slippers, poisoned apples, magic keys, and mirrors, the characters and images of fairy tales have cast a spell over readers and audiences, both adults and children, for centuries. These fantastic stories have travelled across cultural borders, and been passed on from generation to generation, ever-changing, renewed with each re-telling. Few forms of literature have greater power to enchant us and rekindle our imagination than a fairy tale. But what is a fairy tale? Where do they come from and what do they mean? What do they try and communicate to us about morality, sexuality, and society? The range of fairy tales stretches across great distances and time; their history is entangled with folklore and myth, and their inspiration draws on ideas about nature and the supernatural, imagination and fantasy, psychoanalysis, and feminism. Marina Warner has loved fairy tales over a long writing life, and she explores here a multitude of tales through the ages, their different manifestations on the page, the stage, and the screen. From the phenomenal rise of Victorian and Edwardian literature to contemporary children's stories, Warner unfolds a glittering array of examples, from classics such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and The Sleeping Beauty, the Grimm Brothers' Hansel and Gretel, and Hans Andersen's The Little Mermaid, to modern-day realizations including Walt Disney's Snow White and gothic interpretations such as Pan's Labyrinth. In ten succinct chapters, Marina Warner digs into a rich hoard of fairy tales in their brilliant and fantastical variations, in order to define a genre and evaluate a literary form that keeps shifting through time and history. Her book makes a persuasive case for fairy tale as a crucial repository of human understanding and culture.

Kara and Zed are on an adventure to awaken a sleepwalking princess, in this twisted fairy tale series from Anna Staniszewski! Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Kara and Zed have a new mystery to solve! Princess Rosa's palace has been under a sleeping spell 100 years, and the spell is set to end tonight. But Princess Rosa has gone missing! And if she's not back by sunset, the spell will start all over again. It's up to Kara and Zed -- along with a fairy who lives at the palace -- to find the princess and bring her home! Magic, friendship, and adventure come together in the adorable Once Upon a Fairy Tale series, featuring black-and-white illustrations on every page.

Everyone loves to color! Now the whole family can relax and enjoy creative time together by bringing to life the lush and marvelous details of the world of make-believe, from Arabian Nights to Little Red Riding Hood to the Frog Prince. Each of these thirty-two eye-popping and easy-to-remove designs features a vibrant splash of color to launch your adventure.

Frustrated in his search for the lady who belongs to the glass slipper, Prince Patrick turns to Kara's father, the shoemaker, to ask who made the glass slippers; it can only have been a fairy godmother, but Kara is determined to help, and she enlists her friend Zed and his pet goat in the search--an adventure that could end up with the children thrown into the dungeon, because there is a conspiracy afoot, and the chief conspirator is in the heart of the palace.

Individual characters share their points of view on four familiar fairy tales, providing a new way of looking at each. The accompanying CD consists of celebrities such as Robin Williams and Callista Flockart reading the stories.

Snow White needs help! One of her dwarf friends has been kidnapped by the evil queen. It's up to Kara and Zed to travel to the castle and rescue the dwarf in time for Snow White's wedding.

Explores classical and modern fairy tales to argue that fairy tales are a mirror of human understanding and culture.