Showing posts with label Fairy Tale Mash Ups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fairy Tale Mash Ups. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

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.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

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....