Fearless Fairy Tales

by Rikin Parekh (Illustrator), Konnie Huq, James Kay

A hilarious and anarchic collection of classic bedtime stories for young readers, all utterly updated for a new generation - now in paperback format. Meet Trumplestiltskin, a vain and gold-obsessed little man who will stop at nothing to become richer and richer. There's Sleeping Brainy, the princess whose only dream is to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Gingerbread Kid, who escapes persecution in his home country but struggles to fit in in his new one. You won't forget the lingering stench of Mouldysocks - a boy obsessed with staring at his iPad but rather less obsessed with personal hygiene - and you'll be rooting for Rap-Unzel when she gets the chance of fame by appearing on Kingdom's Got Talent . . . but at what cost? Packed with stories about boys who aren't afraid to cry and rhymes about girls who refuse to kiss frogs, FEARLESS FAIRY TALES shakes up dusty, old-fashioned (and, to be honest, rather sexist) bedtime stories and totally reinvents them for the twenty-first century. From fake news to female footballers, environmental pollution to equal pay, nothing is off limits in this anthology of laugh-out-loud fairy tales with thoroughly modern morals. Told in the fresh, vibrant and unique voice of Blue Peter favourite Konnie Huq, writing with James Kay, and packed full of irresistible illustrations by Rikin Parekh, FEARLESS FAIRY TALES is the perfect gift for young readers (and older readers fed up with serving their kids the same old boring bedtime stories).

Genres: Short Stories, Humor, Retellings, Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published October 13, 2022

Reviews

[trijnewijn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 sterren, naar boven afgerond omdat er echt goede alternatieven tussen zitten voor de klassieke sprookjes en de knipogen zo talrijk zijn. In dit boek worden stereotiepen aan diggelen geslagen met prinsessen die het liefst eeuwig blijven bijleren, aanklachten tegen fake news, de gender pay gap, seksisme, vervuiling enz. We beluisterden elke dag een sprookje tijdens het eten en de meeste ervan zorgden voor interessante babbeltjes erna. Ik ben een grote fan het verbreden van de definitie van "normaal" aan de keukentafel en dit boek was er heel geschikt voor. Ook al was niet elk sprookje een succes, voor mij is het een aanradertje.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Packed with political slants, pro-LGBT messaging, and crude humor, this book feels inappropriate for 5–10-year-olds and lacks the charm of classic fairy tales.

[Laura Gualtieri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is completely inappropriate for children. It is completely political, pushing agendas in every story. It is not a book focussed on kindness, nor does it promote acceptance of others. It is desperately trying to please the zombies who blindly follow mainstream media and it does a great job of that. Definitely not one I will read to my children, disappointing from the authors.

[Katy Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern and fresh retellings, for older listeners.

Huq (and Kay) give us familiar tales and characters but each with a contemporary spin, making them feminist, education-focused, but still hugely fun.

Princesses aren’t interested in dresses and balls - they want to be Chancellors of the Exchequer. Goldilocks is now MouldySocks, Rumplestiltskin is given a Trump rebranding. Spinocchio shows us fake news lies in action, Jack has a Baked Bean stalk.

Stories gives us modern-day issues, with familiar heroes but acting in ways you’d not dream of in fairy tales - there’s backbone and brains a-plenty, emotions shown. And I loved the authors’ regular insertion of science facts, English terms, even some maths and general knowledge facts.

Some of these tales take the form of poems, all nicely constructed and easy to follow, good rhymes. The narrative stories are of varying length but each will capture the attention of a reader, they are amusing in the differences they’ll spot from the ‘originals’ and with subjects and characters less wish-washy than you’d predict, great for the older primary market.

Inspiring at times (girls can be good at maths!), entertaining and a reminder that nobody needs to conform to expectations. The author reads her own book and I enjoyed listening to these stories read aloud, she’s a reassuring voice and it’s like bedtime for an older, wiser reader.

For ages 7-11.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

[Sophie Ensor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an anthology or lots of different traditional fairy tales but they have a twist to them. The traditional fairy tales are brought into the modern day. For example, sleeping beauty in this book is sleeping brainy who is a princess who loves maths and grows up to be the chancellor of the exchequer.

[Lucy Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure who the target audience for this is. I feel it tried too hard to be 'woke' to appeal to children but a bit too silly and toilet humoured to appeal to adults. There were some good moments but it fell a bit flat for me.

[Jenifer Lavery · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book for children of all ages

Whilst sleeping brainy was probably my favourite, trumpilstilskin was right on the money and should be a story for the ages

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!

I remembered Konnie from Blue Peter and so this one caught my eye and I’m super glad it did. A wonderfully diverse and talk inspiring collection I’ll definitely be sharing with my class.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with my 5 year old. Really enjoyable some better than others. A book that will be reread many many times no doubt

[Aoibhín · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to help me fall asleep. It is to young for me.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[Caron Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever and witty.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and I like that's it's knock -offs of classic vary tales and it very funny and thought -out.

[Harriet Woodhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but every no and then not very good. But you should still read it .

[CaroleHeidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant twist on the classic fairy tales that is perfect for slightly older kids (7+) and their grown ups. They are inclusive, hilarious, and change the morals of old for ones more relevant to modern day life. From Trumplstiltskin and his fake news, to Snow White and her dreams of joining the 5-a-side football team even though she's a girl, every tale is funny but also packs a punch. The illustrations are perfect, and they're just the right length for sharing out loud - Tori & Arthur (9 & 11) loved them (and so did I!)