Fairy/Folk Tale/Myth

tortoise and hare by jerry pinkney

The Tortoise and the Hare by Jerry Pinkney

The Tortoise and the Hare by Jerry Pinkney. Little, Brown, 2013. 40 pages. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8 Recommended For: All Ages Slow and ...
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The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville

The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville. Knopf,2015. 389 pages Reading Level: Young adult,ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12 and up (especially girls) Bottom ...
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Where Does the Magic Come From?

In 2008, a middle-grade novel called Savvy swept numerous awards lists and was anointed with the silver medallion of Newbery runner-up. The first-time author, Ingrid ...
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Seeing the Gospel in Cinderella (Discussion Starters!)

Why Cinderella? —a joint post from Betsy, Hayley, and Megan We at Redeemed Reader love a good fairy tale. Cinderella is perhaps the quintessential fairy tale ...
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The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon

The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon. Viking, 1956. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 Bottom Line: Farjeon’s classic retelling of Cinderella ...
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Cinderella Read-Alikes for Boys and Girls of All Ages

Cinderella Read-Alikes for Boys and Girls of All Ages A few of our favorite picture books, chapter books, middle grade titles, young adult reads, and ...
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cover of The Ordinary Princess

*The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye (Retro Reads)

*The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye. Puffin, 2002 (originally published in 1980). 128 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 ...
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*Faerie Gold edited by Kathryn Lindskoog and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker

*Faerie Gold: Treasures from the Lands of Enchantment edited by Kathryn Lindskoog and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker. P&R, 2005. 304 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages ...
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Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Fairest by Marissa Meyer. Feiwel and Friends, 2015. 220 pages.  Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 15-18 Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15-18) and up Bottom Line: In an originally unplanned prequel, readers are given ...
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*Wise Words by Peter J. Leithart

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring Proverbs to Life by Peter J. Leithart. Canon Press, 2003. 148 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 2 ...
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Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire

Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire.  Candlewick, 2014. 496 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-14 Maturity Level: 5 (ages 12-15) and up Bottom Line: ...
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Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. HarperCollins, 2014, 342 pages. Reading level: Young Adults, 15-18 Maturity level: 6 (ages 15-18) A ruined castle broods over the ...
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The Castle Behind Thorns

The Castle Behind Thorns, by Merrie Haskell. HarperCollins, 2014, 341 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, ages 11-12 Maturity level: 5 (ages 11 and up) Sand ...
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Cress and The Lunar Chronicles

When you came to my jail cell and dropped this whole princess thing on me . . . how was I supposed to react?  All ...
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The Lunar Chronicles, continued

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.  Feiwel and Friends, 2013.  452 pages.  Age/interest level: 14-up.    As a sequel, Scarlet picks up right where Cinder ended.  Linh Cinder, now ...
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Retro Reads: Lloyd Alexander’s Picture Books

In reading Lloyd Alexander’s picture books, I observe three things: 1) he is well-versed in a broad range of folklore traditions, 2) he loves cats, and 3) ...
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Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  Square Fish, 2012.  387 pages.   Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12 – 15 Recommended For: 6 (ages 15 – 18) and up Bottom ...
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*Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.  Harpers, 2013, 34 pages.  Reading level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Maturity Level: All Bottom line: ...
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Classics in Comics

We round out Picture-book month at Redeemed Reader with a look at some recent comic-book adaptations of enduring literary works--even though graphic novels, technically speaking, ...
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cover of rapunzel

Reading Rapunzel

Today I'm going to demonstrate a close reading of one version of a classic fairy tale. My favorite book to use in demonstrating the illustrative ...
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Beowulf: Legend, Worldview, and Contemporary Narratives

When I used to teach high school British Literature back in the day, Beowulf was always our first big study. It's first chronologically, and it's ...
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Summer Reading Challenge, Week 6: The Lightning Thief

Welcome to Week 6 of our Summer Reading Challenge!  If you’d like to see other posts in this series,
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Summer Reading Challenge, Week 5: The Light Princess

Welcome to Week 5 of our Summer Reading Challenge!  If you'd like to see other posts in this series, check out our Summer Reading Challenge ...
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*Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

Tops and Bottoms is a clever folktale that illustrates the wisdom of diligence and warning against laziness in the book of Proverbs. *Tops and Bottoms ...
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Proverbs, Tricksters and Fools

The book of Proverbs is full of instructions for the simple to obtain wisdom and avoid disaster. Stories about tricksters demonstrate common-grace examples of using ...
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Zeus, King of the Gods by George O’Connor

Zeus, King of the Gods, (#1 in The Olympians graphic-novel series) by George O’Connor.  First Second, 2012, 80 pages. Reading Level: Picture books (graphic novel), ...
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The Adventures of Achilles by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden

The Adventures of Achilles, by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden, illustrated by Carole Henaff.  Barefoot Books, 2012, 96 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages10-12 Maturity ...
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The Drowned Vault by N. D. Wilson

The Drowned Vault (Ashtown Burials #2)  by N. D. Wilson.  Random House, 2012, 447 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15 Recommended for: ages 12 and ...
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The Invasion of Fairyland

Tuesday’s post about “Twisting Mother Goose” was headed down an alley I didn’t have room to address.  So today’s post springs off YA lit-blogger Georgia ...
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Books for Emerging Book-Lovers

Picture books are traditional, and YA is new and glamorous, but the area of literature I consider to be “classic children’s” is that big glorious ...
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Entwined by Heather Dixon

*Entwined by Heather Dixon

*Entwined, by Heather Dixon.  Greenwillow, 2011, 472 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Entwined is a fairy-tale romance ...
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Enchanted: Three new fairy tales

Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.  Bethany House, 2010.  Age/interest level: 14-up (first in a series) Princess Una is a romantic sort, indulged by her father and ...
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Rebel by R. J. Anderson

Rebel by R. J. Anderson. Enclave Publishing, Reprint edition, 2015. 308 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15. Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Rebel, a story ...
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The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers

*The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers

*The Charlatan's Boy, by Jonathan Rogers.  WaterBrook Press, 2010, 305 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: ...
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Hereville by Barry Deutsch

*Hereville by Barry Deutsch

*Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (graphic novel), by Barry Deutsch. Abrams (Amulet), 2010, 139 pp. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 ...
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Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs

*Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs

Dust Devil, by Anne Isaacs, Illustrated by Paul Zelinsky, Schwartz & Wade, 2011. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8 Recommended for: Ages 4-8 and up ...
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The Perilous Gard

*The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope

The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001, 288.  Age/interest level 12-up. Reading Level: Teens/Young Adults Recommended for: Ages 15-18 Bottom line: ...
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The Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud

The Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (Hyperion/Miramax, 2003), The Golem's Eye (2004), Ptolemy's Gate (2005). Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-14 ...
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief (Hyperion/Miramax,2005), The Sea of Monsters (2006), The Titan's Curse (2007), The Battle of the ...
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