Fairy Tale Mix Ups Three Blind Mice Team Up with the Three Little Pigs

Three Blind Mice Team Up with the Three Little Pigs is another entry in the Fairy Tale Mix-Ups series.

In this mash up we are introduced to the challenging living situations of both the Three Pigs and the Three Blind Mice which are now reaching a critical stage. We discover the Three Pigs huddled down and living safe but cramped in the small brick home of the Third Pig. Space is tight and food is running low. The mice on the other hand live in a spacious farm house, but because they can't see it is rather hard to find their way around, especially with a rather scary Farmer's wife who does not enjoy having them in her home and regularly tries to evict them.

Oddly the Farmer's wife succeeded in scaring them out of the house on the very same day the Pigs got desperate for food and made a dash for the woods to hunt for some. Despite the size of the woods they found each other and struck up a conversation about their challenging living conditions. This being a fairy tale mash up there had to be a solution. If you look at the cover you will get a hint. The mice dress up with pig noses and the pigs conceal their ears and noses with mice costumes.

Thus when the Big Bad wolf climbs down the chimney he sees tiny mice size pigs and doesn't think they'd be worth his time to eat. The Farmer's wife is terrified that the mice have grown to be pig sized and flees leaving the huge home unoccupied. The Three Pigs and the Three Mice decide a home switch would work out well as the size of each home is better suited to the other.

It is a cute story and for kids who are familiar with the Nursery Rhyme of the mice and the Three Pigs Fairy tale the elements are still there in this mash up. The endings clearly are different.

Fairy Tale Mix Ups The Frog Prince Saves Sleeping Beauty

The Frog Prince Saves Sleeping Beautyis another entry in the Fairy Tale Mix-Ups series.

Charlotte Guillaim stays within the basic parameters of the Sleeping Beauty Tale. There are fewer Fairy Godmothers but they follow the basic path of blessing, blessing, cursing, lessening the curse, although the first two gifts are more traditional then something one expects from a Fairy Godmother. This tale continues changing the spinning wheel to a more generic pointy item would prick the Princess enacting the curse. The parents too attempt to prevent the curse removing pointy items from their daughters life as much as any parent could attempt.

At the age of 10 the mash up begins as the Princess meets a frog and brings him home to live in a fish tank. After drawing a picture of her new pet, she decides to display her picture on the wall and to my surprise in a house that has banned pointy items the Princess has access to push pins and pricks herself falling into the sleep promised by the curse.

The three kindly Fairy Godmothers take pity on the family and put the castle to sleep until a Prince can be found to break the curse. Cue the Frog Prince who some how is not effected by the sleeping spell cast by the Fairy Godmothers. He then strolls over and gives a friendly kiss on the Princess' cheek. The Princess wakes up and the Prince is no longer a Frog as his curse has been broken, too. Since they are both children, their story ending is not a romantic one. At the end of the story they are off playing in the woods.

I am left wondering what happened to the poor boy's parents. Is his family gone? Do they not inform anyone that their little boy is restored?

While I've enjoyed these stories this is the second one that has left me wondering, but what about....

Fairy Tale Mix Ups: Red Riding Hood Meets the Three Bears

Charlotte Guillain explores the idea of what happens when encounters with the Big Bad Wolf causes Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood not to follow their traditional story paths in her book Red Riding Hood Meets the Three Bears (Fairy Tale Mix-ups). This book ponders what might have happened if Red Riding Hood arrived at the Three Bears house mistaking it for her grandmother's house. Being a regular guest in someone else's home will she perhaps react differently to the bear's home than Goldilocks?

It is a bit disturbing that the wolf decides to head out after Goldilocks instead of Red Riding Hood and we are left wondering what happens to Goldilocks. Goldilocks is pretty tough, she destroyed the bear's home and walked away clean. So perhaps the wolf will wish he'd stuck with the original plan and gone after Red Riding Hood. If she ends up at Grandmas will Grandma be able to teach Goldilocks proper manners and behavior for visiting strangers?

This is a fairly simple story, but it actually can start some interesting conversations like the one above about what happened to Goldilocks. The author doesn't tell us, but it is a way to get students thinking about what the author doesn't tell us. The author doesn't tell us why Red Riding Hood behaves so differently than Goldilocks but it doesn't stop us from discussing why they acted so differently. Do you think there will be problems between the Three Bears and the Big Bad Wold in the future now that the Bear Family and Red Riding Hood have become friends?

Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes

Three Pigs, One Wolf, Seven Magic Shapes (level 3) (Scholastic Reader, Math)is an attempt to combine fairy tales with math. The story is a more brutal version of the three pigs than the ones I've previously read. Instead of sheltering with the other pigs, the wolf kills the first two pigs before giving up on the bricks building pig.

After summarizing the original tale, the author moves on to introducing a second chapter to the tale that combines math and a new set of pigs. In this second act, tangram animals appear to three new pigs. Each pig asks the tangram animal for help seeking its fortune. The pigs are each provided with seven tangram shapes and each pig creates something it feels will help. The first two pigs go the way of the pigs in the first act. However, the last pig follows the original third pig's plan building a tangram house, defeating the pig. The boy and girl surviving pigs marry and convert their tangram home into a boat for their honeymoon. The wolf sends them off on their honeymoon huffing and puffing in a last attempt to kill them.

The book provides information about tangrams and cardboard tangrams to cut out and experiment with for students who purchase the book. I borrowed the book from the library so that wasn't an option. Readers are also given activities and games to play with the tangram shapes.

Frankly, I Never Wanted to Kiss Anybody! The Story of the Frog Prince

Frankly, I Never Wanted to Kiss Anybody!: The Story of the Frog Prince as Told by the Frog (The Other Side of the Story)is a funny retelling of the Frog Prince story told from the Frog's point of view.

In this version the Prince was not punished for being selfish or spoiled. Instead he was a star baseball player who is turned into a frog to prevent him from winning a baseball game. He doesn't mind life as a frog too much, but he does miss playing baseball. Eventually he decides he is willing to return to his old life, but finding a princess is a challenge.

Based on the baseball theme, you might have a hint where the ball part of the original tale might come in to the retold tale. The princess is also a baseball player, a pitcher and her lucky ball is lost in the well. As per the original tale she fails to live up to their agreement and the frog must go to court to enforce the contract. The couple finds a future in baseball together when the contract finally is enforced and the prince returns to his original form.

Snow White Was So Forgetful!

Seriously, Snow White Was SO Forgetful!: The Story of Snow White as Told by the Dwarves (The Other Side of the Story) is a retelling of the Snow White story from the dwarves' perspective. This story is different from the other series of the Other Side of the Story books in a couple of ways. First this book only has the alternate fairy tale, it doesn't include the original story for students to compare and contrast. Secondly, the narrator of the story is a friend, not someone who was in conflict with the character as is generally the case in most of the Other tales. The tales are generally written to give you the evil character's perspective on what happened. In this case that presents a little bit of a weakness for the story. The dwarves had no conflict with Snow White. They just found her forgetful and that created problems for her.

In order to get around the issue of not telling the story from the Evil Queen's perspective or for that matter the Prince's story which would also might provided more material for an alternate fairy tale, the author focuses on making Snow White into a hopeless figure who can't get out of her own way. To insure nobody assumes this is based on sexism, the Prince is equally forgetful and thus a match made.

On the plus side, this version strays from the Disney version back to the traditional Grimm's tale with the multiple visits from the Evil Queen attempting to kill Snow White. It also leaves out true love's kiss for the version where the apple is displaced when the coffin is dropped.

I think the author was shooting for the humor of some of the earlier series, but failed. Instead this seemed like a petty attack on Snow White.

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hoodis the third story in Liesl Shurtliff's True Fairy Tale series.

This tale takes a slightly different turn from the earlier books in the series, which completely reexamine the characters Rumpelstiltskin in Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin and Jack in Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk giving us entertaining new stories.

We have already met Red Riding Hood in previous adventures and in this novel she teams up with Goldie. There are two twists in this story, but not enough to make it as engaging as the previous two novels. Red and her Grandmother are witches, but Red is struggling to embrace her powers and has almost killed her grandmother trying to adapt. That is not in the original tale. The second is that the wolf and Red are friends, he risks his life to save hers. Again this moves it away from the original, but not enough to make it interesting. These just aren't as the same kinds of bold changes made in the the previous novels that made them quick reads.

The crisis that moves the plot is Red's Grandmother is dying. Not able to face losing her, Red finally is compelled to consider magic as a solution to keeping her grandmother alive. However, as she and Goldie set out to find something to save her Grandmother she finds that kind of magic always has a hidden cost. The outcome is rarely what one hopes for and generally provides less than ideal results.

Along the path she meets people who help her come to terms the reality that her quest is not one that will benefit her Grandmother. A turning point comes when she discovers what the cost was for Beauty when she sought to stay young forever. On her return from that encounter she meets someone that has turned even darker pursuing eternal life and is only saved when she can fully embrace her own magic and stop fearing death.

This is an interesting tale, but not quite up to the standards set in the first two novels of the series. There are so many possibilities for an alternate story of Red's life. This one seemed a bit lacking.

Flunked

If you're interested in Fairy Tale characters finding their happily ever after Jen Catonita's Fairy Tale Reform School might be worth a read. In the first novel, Flunked we learn the fate of Cinderella's evil stepmother. It appears Cinderella's marriage was a wake up call for Flora, Cinderella's stepmother and after reforming herself, she has gathered together other reformed villains and started a school to help young future villian fairy tale characters have a chance to reform.

In the beginning of the story we meet Gilly, the daughter of the woman in the shoe. Her starving siblings have driven her to stealing and after her latest encounter with the law, she is sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School. I've always been amazed how many boarding schools exist in fantasy literature. While it serves as a practical setting for isolating students from parents and home life, as an American it isn't a common education option for most students. However, despite the fact that most students have never attended boarding school, they still seem to enjoy stories where characters attend one.

I had looked into this series for someone who is a fan of the Ever After High series, but had read everything available from the TV series. This series has some of the charm of alternate stories for the fairy tale characters. While a thief, Gilly proves herself to be a good friend to several of the other students sentenced to the school.

The plan for the story was an interesting one. The school is under threat from a returning villain. The execution could have been a bit stronger. Ironically, I usually see character development sacrificed to plot. In this case, there was some surprisingly good character development and interaction. The plot just needed to be a little tighter to make it work. Perhaps I've been spoiled by some great children's fantasy writers, but it is possible to write creative plots that are strong in execution and ideas.

I'm going to read the next book to see how the story progresses and see if the series grows and if the potential plot lines deliver on the potential.

Rump: The True Story of Rumplestiltskin

I love finding fractured fairy tales and sharing them with others. I found that in a new series from Liesl Shurtliff and the first book is Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin.

This is a series of chapter books that creates a universe of fairy tales characters that interact with one another based on versions of each character's tale. I've finished the first two of the series and glanced at the third enough to know the characters do cross over and the story does stay intact from one to the next. However, for those of you interested in using just one with a specific unit it is possible to read them as stand alone novels. You just lose a little bit of the character and plot background as the second and third novels do bring in knowledge from the previous novels.

However, this is the first chapter book in the series and I think she does a great job at giving an alternate story for Rumpelstiltskin. In the original tale, Rumpelstiltskin is generally written as an old trickster. In this novel we start with Rump's birth and thus the problem with his names. Just like in the original tale, names have power. However, in this version Rump's mother dies before pronouncing his complete name leaving him with not only an embarrassing name, but also an issue with his identity. He lacks a certain amount of personal and eventually magic power without his complete name.

The story that is most familiar occurs when Rumple is an older character. This book is written when Rump is a child. The author introduces us to Rump and the setting that will be at the heart of the series. We also quickly meet Red of Red Riding Hood fame. She later gets her own book as the series continues to a third book. Adding and mixing characters from different fairy tale stories can be done well or just clutter the story. In this case the author has created an interesting relationship between Red and Rump. Her addition to the story isn't placed just to check off a box that we've mixed fairy tale stories, she and Rump have a real purpose and a believable history established. The author does a good job creating round characters out of both Rump and Red. Ironically where Rumple is often a villain of the story, here he becomes a rounded hero. Sadly, however, while reforming Rumple and making him a fuller, more developed character, my biggest disappointment is the villains are still flat and underwritten. That is one thing that would make this series stronger.

By changing Rump into a younger character, much of the story is more easily justified. Rump didn't understand the magic that he was working with and only with time understands the consequences and rules that govern magic. The gold he spins does not come without a price as he discovers from learning the history of his mother from whom his talent was passed to him.

I was curious as to how the author was going to handle the situation with the Queen's child and it was an interesting and creative solution to how the queen gets her child back and how Rump finally discovers not only his name, but the power of his magic and his own life.

As always I recommend teachers and parents review anything before turning it over to their children.

There's a Wolf at the Door

I am always looking for new alternate fairy tales and I came across There's a Wolf at the Door while searching for another title.

This story includes five chapters of an ongoing graphic novel story. Each story is told from the wolf's perspective about hunting for food and his feelings about the characters he meets. There are no breaks in the stories, each continues where the last left off. The stories begin with The Three Little Pigs, continue with The Boy Who Cried Wolf, move on to Little Red Riding Hood, falls into the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, and finishes with the Wolf and Seven Little Goslings.

This is not an apologist story. The wolf is honest about his intent to eat the other characters. However, he does have some interesting stories to tell about the other characters. My favorite is his story about how the vain Red Riding Hood becomes more thoughtful after her encounter with him. One of my favorite moments was the sheep rescuing the boy in The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

This is another great addition to my list of alternate fairy tales.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

In my quest to find new fairy tale versions I discovered The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell a new series, which I didn't realize until I started researching a sequel is written by a Glee star.

The book starts as many time travel or alternate adventure stories for children do, you must take characters from one place and take them to another. In this version those characters are fraternal twins Alex and Connor Bailey. Both children are recovering from the loss of their father and the emotional and financial upheavals that loss has created.

Alex is the stereotypical smart girl with her hand always in the air waiting for the teacher to call on her. Connor struggles more with school and misses the father who helped him make sense of his life with stories and lots of patience. Early in the story, we realize the twins are struggling not only with the loss of their father, but in many ways with the loss of their mother who now works constantly to support them.

The children's teacher at school is doing a unit on traditional fairy tales. I was curious about the teacher and thought she might have a larger role in the story. While many schools do teach units on traditional tales at this age, this teacher seemed to be very focused on having the Bailey children understand the meaning behind the stories. After reading the book, I'm left wondering if this was a false lead or if this will come up later.

As with many of these travel books, the mode of travel always seems awkward to me. This one is a common tool used in fantasy travel. However, I am not sure there is a believable way to travel to another dimension. Therefore, I think the awkwardness is rather expected.

For an audience exposed to the TV show Once Upon a Time this provides some interesting alternate back stories and alternate answers to the questions about the fairy tale realm. What happens after happily ever after? Who are the princes in the stories? What happened to Snow Whites stepmother to make her so mean?

There are some interesting political and romantic issues to resolve, too. In this land, the Happy Ever After Assembly is created from of stories Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Red Riding Hood is also a member as the only elected Queen. There are other areas not ruled by fairy tale Queens, the Dwarf Forest, The Elf Empire, and The Troll and Goblin Territory. However, even here readers will discover familiar names. We discover that Goldilocks has been set up and her boyfriend is a hero from another fairy tale. Her betrayer is not the typical evil suspect you might expect. As their teacher was trying to explain, fairy tales teach a great deal about the human condition.

The children discover there is a magic spell that will grant any wish. It can only be used twice and it has already been used once. A good portion of the story revolves around the journey they take to find the items they need to cast the spell, allowing them to interact with a variety of fairy tale characters and story lines. The children have a journal from the first person to follow the quest and it was this that led me to guess the outcome of the story.

The end of the quest was a bit different than I expected. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the children do find a way home, but there is a twist. I rather expected this answer when the children started reading the journal.

This was a good start to the series. I heard that the next one will be out in August. If the second one is as good, the books will be headed off to a couple of Christmas trees this year.

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?

I found another nursery rhyme detective picture book in Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries written by David Levinthal and John Nickle.

This is one of those wonderful stories both adults and children can appreciate together. The opening line "There are eight million stories in the forest. This is one of them." will draw in the adult readers familiar with the classic mystery movie genre. The nursery crimes will appeal to adult and child alike.

Binky the Frog works in Pinecone's robbery division. As the story begins, he is working on the case of a burglary involving the Bear family. After he works through the Goldilocks’ situation, he moves on Hansel and Gretel. After the first case, we are left wondering, will he side with the witch or the children. With the Hansel and Gretel's situation resolved he hears terrible news from Harry Wolf, Humpty, the lead drummer of All the King's Horses and all the King's Men band was discovered in pieces. As an old friend, Binky feels obliged to take a bus into the city to discover the fate of his friend.

After locating Humpty's killer, Binky takes on the Queen from Snow White and the fate of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk.

This is the authors first trip into nursery rhyme crime and I hope it is not the last time we see Binky working his way through nursery rhyme and fairy tale crimes. This is a great way to open up discussions about fairy tales children have read. For older children it is a way to discuss crime and punishment as it relates to fairy tales and nursery rhymes. I used to use fairy tales and nursery rhymes as a great introduction to debates. Was Humpty pushed? Was Little Boy Blue overworked or lazy? Should Goldilocks have been arrested for breaking and entering or just forced to make restitution for her destruction?

This book works better after children have read the original tales. It is harder to understand the fun of the stories if you do not know the original tales.

Brainy Bird Saves the Day!: Henny Penny Retold is another book in Steck-Vaughn's Point of View Series.

In the classic tale, we find the tale of Henny Penny who comes to believe the sky is falling after being hit on the head with an acorn. She sets off on an adventure to tell the King about the danger. She convinces her friends with her hysteria and they all are tricked into a fox's cave when he offers to show them a short cut to King. This tale has been told for years as a cautionary tale about panic and chaos being created by people coming to the wrong conclusions based on minimal evidence.

The alternate tale is Henny Penny's version of the story. She insists she never thought the sky was falling. She clearly understood she was hit on the head by an acorn. However, do to the increased number of falling acorns she sensed an impending danger to the population and decides that as a reporter it is her job to tell the King. She meets her friends along the way and they join her on her mission. She is not fooled by the fox's trick and she and her friends send the farmer's dog after the fox.

Henny Penny makes a convincing case for herself and against the concept of bird brains not being empty headed.

Just a Friendly Old Troll

The Three Billy Goats Gruff/Just a Friendly Old Troll (Another Point of View)is another Point of View tale from Dr. Alvin Granowsky.

In the traditional tale, we find the three billy goats named Gruff who live in a green meadow where over eating has started to create a demand for more grass. The youngest goat decides to seek better grass on a hillside. His invites his brothers and they agree to come, but not until they have finished their chores. The only way to access, the hillside was across a rickety, wooden bridge. Underneath the bridge lived a goat-eating troll. As the Little Billy Goat Gruff crossed the bridge his hoofs trip-trap-trip-trap trip-trap sound alerted the troll that a potential meal was on its way. The troll tells the young goat he plans to eat him and the goat tells him he would be better off waiting for Middle Billy Goat, his brother who would make a more satisfying meal. The troll agrees and Little Billy Goat is on his way. When Middle Billy Goat arrives, he offers his big brother as a more appetizing meal and he too goes across to the other side. When the troll sees Big Billy Goat Gruff, he is thrilled that dinner has arrived. However, Big Billy Goat Gruff is more than a match for him and knocks him flying off the bridge. The goats celebrate happily on the other side of the bridge. The troll is never seen again.

In the alternate version, we meet the troll in the hospital. He discusses coming from a long line of hospitable people. He tells the reader he is known everywhere for his bridge hospitality. The goats’ reaction puzzles him. His only explanation is a failure to communicate. He was confused by each goat’s reaction to his invitation to share his dinner with him. He was even going to serve lemonade. His only explanation is that they did not understand when he said he was having them for dinner it was an invitation to eat with him, not to eat them.

The author does make a case for cultural misunderstandings. The troll presents a strong history of hospitality and comfort to travelers. Since the first two goats did pass without being eaten, it does seem questionable that he would have harmed the third. After all, goats would keep for more than one day. He could have killed the whole family. This would have provided the troll with food for several days if that had been his intention. The goat's account does seem a bit thin.

Help Yourself Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen/Help Yourself, Little Red Hen (Another Point of View)is another Point of View story written by Dr. Alvin Granowsky.

As with all the books in this series, the first side tells the traditional story, in this case The Little Red Hen. In the traditional tale, the Little Red Hen tries to gather the farm animals to help her grow wheat so they can all enjoy the bread that will be made from it. They all refuse to help and when the bread is made, they all want to eat it, but she refuses to share since they refused to work. Wendy Edelson has beautiful illustrations in the traditional tale. As I mentioned before two different styles of illustrations and fonts are used to distinguish the stories. This is the first time I have checked and realized there are two illustrators for the stories although one author for both stories.

In the alternate version, the pigs in the story begin by telling the story of a spoiled red hen who has been enabled by her friends. She always comes to them for help and as a result, they find themselves doing the work instead of helping her to complete the task. As a group, they decide it is time for her to become more independent. When the issue with the wheat arises, they practice tough love and force her to learn to handle tasks for herself. They are proud and supportive of her as she overcomes each obstacle. Instead of being upset, they are supportive when she chooses to enjoy the fruits of her labor instead of sharing it with the others.

This is an interesting take on the story of the Little Red Hen. I know I have encountered people who left me doing the chore after telling me I would only be helping with it. Therefore, I found the second story was believable. As far as the original story of the Red Hen, I thought she was free to grow her own food and eat it herself. However, she had no right to be angry the others were not interested in raising food and they had no right to the food she grew. I always thought the focus was on the benefits of being able to have control of one's food source and not be dependent on others for food.

Giants Have Feelings, Too

Giants Have Feelings, Too: Jack and the Beanstalk Retold (Another Point of View)is another Dr. Alvin Granowsky Point of View book published by Steck-Vaughn. The format continues with the traditional Jack in the Beanstalk Story told on one side and the giant's story told when you flip the book upside down.

One thing I noticed as I reviewed this book is the font and the illustrations are very different for the two stories. The illustrations in Jack's stories are bright and vivid. The font is very traditional. The Giant's story has more of a cartoon style and a different font designed to set the story apart.

Any child who has heard the story of Jack in the Beanstalk will be familiar with the traditional version. The second tale ponders questions that have been raised for generations. Is Jack a hero or a thief? Was it OK for Jack to steal from the Giants and because they were giants? Since the story is told from the Giant's perspective, it does not begin with the magic beans and the cow, but with the first encounter between Jack and the Giants. The Giant's wife makes a very clear case that she and her husband Herbert were taken advantage of by Jack and as a result lost all of the treasures they accumulated through hard work and sacrifice. She even expresses hope at one point in the story that Jack's mother will not want her boy to prosper from stealing and have him return what he has stolen.

This book would be the basis for a very lively debate even among older children who may believe they are past the age for reading fairy tales. The issues are very interesting and some students may never have considered the questions raised by the Giant's wife.

The Frog Prince Continued

The Frog Prince, Continued (Picture Puffin)answers the question what happens after the book tells us they lived happily ever after.

The Frog Prince is troubled. His princess is not happy with him and he wants to become a frog again. He heads out into the world seeking a witch who can grant his request. First, he meets the witch from Sleeping Beauty who seeks to prevent him from waking the Princess, so he has to escape from her. Along the way, he meets the witches from Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. Knowing his fairy tales the Prince keeps moving. Finally, he finds the fairy Godmother from Cinderella who offers to help him. Instead, she turns him into a carriage and he is terrified this will be his life. Instead, the curse wears off at midnight and realizing his good fortune he hurries back to his princess who has been worried about him. He kisses the princess and his wish is granted for both of them.

As a fan of the The Frog Princess (Tales of the Frog Princess series)I thought it was great to see a picture book that addressed some of the same challenges of transforming from frog to man.

Legally Correct Fairy Tales

Imagine what would happen if Nursery Rhyme and Fairy Tale characters got access to legal counsel and the court system and you have the basis for David Fisher's Legally Correct Fairy Tales an amusing collection of cases.

In the first case, a lawyer is civil court suing on behalf of Jack and Jill for defective pails that caused them to fall while acquiring water. With the current awards for people spilling hot coffee on themselves, the outcome of this case is not hard to predict.

The second case finds us again in civil court with a tailor suing the Emperor for payment of clothing delivered. Considering the power of the Emperor and his humiliation suffered at the hands of the boy, I was amused, but not surprised by the outcome.

The third story covers a hearing to determine the sanity of Hansel and Gretel to determine if they can be considered guilty of the crime of murder in killing the alleged witch that threatened to eat Hansel. The outcome of this case was touch and go.

The next story is a petition for guardianship of Sleeping Beauty that would award the sole survivor of her family the right to prevent anyone from waking her up and thus total control of her estate. This one is left without resolution.

Next, we discover Snow White is being sued by the EEOC for discrimination because she only hires the dwarves to work in her mining and food service industries. Again, no resolution to this case just an announcement of pending actions.

In the next story, Mr. Wolf is brought to court to give a deposition under the RICO act as a member of an organized crime family the Wolves. The lawyers grill him about various activities of his family including Red Riding Hood, Peter and the Wolf, and specific to him the incident with the three pigs.

Humpty is next on the docket as he is lodging a complaint against King's hospital for negligence and malpractice.

The Old Lady in the Shoe dies without a will leaving a lower court to rule that her eldest son inherits all. In the next case, the children appeal the ruling.

The courts are next presented with a custody battle over Pinocchio between an Oak Tree and Gepetto. While Gepetto admits he found him in the forest, he says the boy was neglected and in need of care. The court psychologist expresses concern over Pinocchio's delusions about nose growth. Eventually the judge decides drug treatment is required before any custody choices can be made.

The author also covers cases involving Cinderella's Prince Charming, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince, and Goldilocks. Some are stronger than others.

My suggestion is to read the stories before sharing them with children. Some are more appropriate for certain age groups than others. Prince Charming's foot fetish is not something I would want to explain to children.