Swan Lake by Lisbeth Zwerger

Another Lisbeth Zwerger book for our little library, nestled alongside Hansel and Gretel. This is one of the best-loved ballet of all time and Hans Christian Anderson medal winner Zwerger does a superb picture book adaptation. The haunting story or an enchanted swan princess is brought to life through her gentle water colour illustrations which are reminiscent of English illustrators of the 19th century. Her version is based on Tchaikovsky's original 1877 ballet and has a happy ending rather than the tragic one of the 1893 production. The young prince is out hunting one day and he nearly injures a swan with one of his arrows.  This swan turns out to be an extremely beautiful princess under the spell of an evil sorcerer and the young prince is desperate to win her hand in marriage.

The Emperor's New Clothes retold by Susanna Davidson

This version of the famous tale by Hans Christian Anderson is very accessible for most readers and supported with comical, colourful illustrations complete with speech bubbles by Mike Gordon. This hardback has been organised into five short chapters: Nothing to wear, Slimus and Slick, The two cheats, The emperor's visit, and, The royal procession. The king has just about every style of royal clothing, but he is not satisfied. In fact he has seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-two outfits. He wants new clothes, he wants something special. Little does he understand the great swindle which is about to take place. This is a gentle and amusing read, with a really creative and quirky treatment of this age-old tale.

The Witches and the Singing Mice by Jenny Nimmo

Glenmagraw has three new residents. Three witches have renovated the once tumbled down building on the hill, it's now a solid brick structure with only a peephole for a window. It turns out that they are particularly evil, especially when they don't get their own way and, it's not long before the tradesmen of the village are in real trouble. Tam and Rory, two cats, watch horrified as the witches put the blacksmith's daughter and the carpenter's son into a deep sleep. When the weaver's baby is threatened with a similar fate, the cats decide it is time to act and to track down the singing mice whom the witches are using for their own evil purposes. This book, which retells an old Celtic tale, is complemented with illustrator Barrett's eerie paintings wherein the witches are never more than elusive shadowing images, which makes them more intriguing and sinister. The illustrations of the townspeople, on the other hand, are filled with warmth and light. Visit author, Jenny Nimmo's website to find out more about her life and her other books:

http://www.jennynimmo.me.uk/books02.html

The Fairy Tale Life of Hans Christian Andersen by Eva Moore

One upon a time - over one hundred years ago - there lived a little boy named Hans Christian Andersen. He was the son of a shoemaker, and he lived in the country of Denmark, in a little town called Odense.

Han's mother and father were very poor, but they did everything they could to make him happy.

Thus begins Moore's biography of Hans Christian Andersen written in a fairy tale format. The book is made up of short chapters about significant events in his life, from his childhood, through his infatuation with puppets, struggles in the world of theatre, to his emergence as a respected writer of fairy tales. Hans wrote not only fairy tales, but poems, a travel book about Italy and also translated French plays into Danish.

The chapters in the book are as follows:

A Play

The Comet

School

The Dancing Shoes

The Chinese Prince

The Danish Prince

Good-bye to Odense

Copenhagen

The Singing Teacher

The Elve's Sun

Master Meisling

The Writer, H.C. Anderson

"My life is a beautiful fairy tale"

There was a movie, a musical, made in 1952 about Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kay, and another more recently in 2003. Click on the link below to watch the trailer of Hans Christen Andersen: My Life as a Fairy Tale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMT3DPpq-A

I have this DVD available for borrowing for any student who reads this book.

Once Upon a More Enlightened Time by James Finn Garner

Calling Hayley, Simon and Lucinda (yeah I know I have already overloaded you with books Lucinda and Simon) but you will maybe appreciate this one. Okay, here's how the first fairy starts..very politically correctly!

Deep in the forested bioregion stood a small, humble chalet, and in that chalet lived a small, humble family. the father was a tree butcher by trade, and he was doing his best to raise his two pre-adults named Hansel and Gretel. The family tried to maintain a healthy and conscientious lifestlye, but the demands of the capitalist system, especially its irresponsible energy policies, worked carelessly to smother them. Soon they were at a complete economic disadvantage and found themselves unable to live in the style to which they had become accustomed, paltry though it may have been...

Read the politically correct version of:

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Princess and the Pea

The Tortoise and the Hare and...

MANY MORE

Beware this is only for students who love challenging texts!