Twice upon a Time

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Summary: Great Book!
Review: An extremely funny book. I couldn't stop reading it. If you like alternate universe stories or pollitically correct stories, this book is for you. A MUST HAVE!!

Rating:
Summary: I liked it!
Review: The idea of this was fresh, taking well known fairy tales and rewriting them. I LOVED almost all of them, except there was an occasional one that I didn't like as much. Anyway, don't let that discourage you. BUY THIS BOOK!

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Summary: TWICE UPON A TIME just won a national award!
Review: The New York Public Library selected Twice Upon A Time as one of its 100 best books for young adults for the year. Other authors selected included Mercedes Lackey and other greats, so I was very pleased on behalf of all the fine authors who contributed to this anthology. When the New York Public Library notified me, it was kind of a shock, because neither I nor the writers working on the stories in the book were aiming it at young adults. We were really just having a good time with tales we'd heard our whole lives. But the fact that the librarians loved the book, and selected it for recognition out of the thousands and thousands of volumes that they read every year, said something about the power of those stories and talent of the authors who rewrote them for this collection. It's a wonderful book--something I can say without too much hubris since I edited it, rather than wrote it. It's funny and smart, and brings back all the joys of listening to fairy tales that you had as a kid, but with nice, grown-up twists of logic and humor. If you haven't read the book, you're missing a gem. I had so much fun working on it that I'd forget I was supposed to be editing as I was reading--that's the ultimate compliment to the writers of the stories!

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Summary: THIS BOOK WAS SOMETHING I ENJOYED READING!
Review: This book contains some of my favorit Fairy Tales told with a more "entertaining" point of view. Just how many wives did Prince Charming really have? What happend to them? this book is something any Fantasy lover will enjoy!

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Summary: Three Jacks, Two Rumplestilskins, and a Plethora of Hansels
Review: This collection of retold Fairy Tales, edited by Denise Little, is your basic example of the state of the genre today. In their retellings of mainly Grimms' and Anderson's stories (including three that deal with Jack and the Beanstalk, two with Rumplestilskin, and most with cutesy cross-references all over the place - I'd no idea so many people had difficulties with the Hansel and Gretel tale!), about a third are really well done, a third are written well but with dangerous or offensive content, and a few are just paltry.

The best story in the collection is the story about Rapunzel, wherein the author (sorry, don't have the book on hand!) deals precisely with the question of the ramifications of retelling fairy tales. His conclusion is unsatisfactory - since he seems to long to marry the secular answer with the one written on his heart (basically he says something along the lines of forget the authorities/authors, and just live your life/believe in yourself/choose your destiny, etc. - *sigh*), but his execution is interesting. "Jack and the Castle," the second of the Jack and the Beanstalk retellings (the editor really could have used a course on fairy tale delegation) is also very good, with a satisfactory ending, and good morals - certainly loads better than either of the other two retellings of that tale which both took place in a courtroom. "One Fairy Tale: Hard Boiled" is the search for Rumplestilskin's name from the point of view of a private eye - a fun read, even if he drags in Hansel and Gretel, like several others do.

However, these are only three stories - there are many, including retellings of Prince Charming's many loves (well told, but too many sexual jokes), the Snow White story, the Big Bad Wolf's story, the Steadfast Tin Soldier's story which include animalistic and sometimes bestial sexuality and violence.

Overall, there are no stories so utterly compelling that one must buy the anthology just to read it, and the mediocre and horrid tales more than overwhelm those few which are half-intriguing.

Those who *must* read a retelling of a Fairy Tale would do well to take a look at Robin McKinley's stories, with another glance for older readers to Donna Jo Napoli's books. Or, if all else fails, write your own!

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: This is definatly a great fairy tales book...with a bit of a twist. Okay, more than a bit, but who's counting? My favorite stories: True Love and The Constant Tin Soldier. Although I must say, despite what they say, this book is not for nine year olds. Let's rule out 10 and 11 year olds too. 12 year olds, I think they can handel it. Some of this book is quite, shall we say...vulgar, but I think they should be able to handle it. Over all it's a great book especially if you're looking for a good laugh.

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Summary: A good collection of fractured fairytales.
Review: Twice upon a Time is an anthology of eighteen fractured fairytales. Taking off on such stories as sleeping beauty, the emperor's new clothes, and Jack and the beanstalk, these stories recast the stories in a new and often humorous form. My favor was True Love (or The Many Brides of Prince Charming), which is hilariously funny, showing that happily ever after isn't always in the cards for Prince Charming either.

Some of these stories are somewhat off-color, and inappropriate for small children. However, as these stories are not intended to teach uplifting stories, as the original fairytales are, I would recommend against using these stories for small children. That said, though, this book does contain a number of quite entertaining stories, and is a very good read.

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Summary: Not my cup of tea, but it may be yours
Review: _Twice Upon a Time_ is a glib, sarcastic take on fairy tales. Yes, a few of the retellings are serious, but most of them are attempts at poking fun at the conventions of fairy tales. I like these sorts of stories when they are well done, but most of these stories seem to be groaners rather than side-splitters; farces whose main purpose seems to be dragging every single fairy tale cliche into every single story. I mean, seriously, does a detective story about Rumpelstiltskin, which was just getting interesting, really need Hansel and Gretel barging into the plot? Many of the stories are like this. Just throw the ten or so most famous fairy tales into a blender and see what comes out, and top it off with a forced wittiness. If you're looking for cheesy fairy tale humor, check this out. Otherwise, look up Datlow and Windling.

Rating:
Summary: Not my cup of tea, but it may be yours
Review: _Twice Upon a Time_ is a glib, sarcastic take on fairy tales. Yes, a few of the retellings are serious, but most of them are attempts at poking fun at the conventions of fairy tales. I like these sorts of stories when they are well done, but most of these stories seem to be groaners rather than side-splitters; farces whose main purpose seems to be dragging every single fairy tale cliche into every single story. I mean, seriously, does a detective story about Rumpelstiltskin, which was just getting interesting, really need Hansel and Gretel barging into the plot? Many of the stories are like this. Just throw the ten or so most famous fairy tales into a blender and see what comes out, and top it off with a forced wittiness. If you're looking for cheesy fairy tale humor, check this out. Otherwise, look up Datlow and Windling.