High-Five to the Hero: 15 Classic Tales Retold for Boys Who Dare to Be Different

by Vita Murrow

What if heroes weren’t always strong, silent and happier slaying monsters than talking to people? In this stunning anthology – elegantly presented in a green, clothbound hard cover with gold-toned metallic debossing – 15 favourite fairytales have been retold for a new generation.

Meet King Arthur, who rules by listening to others, and Prince Charming, who really wishes people knew his real name, in this stereotype-busting follow-up to Power to the Princess. Focused on issues including self-image, confidence, LGBTQ, friendship, advocacy and disability, these stories are perfect for sharing between parents and children, or for older heroes and heroines to read by themselves.

Get reacquainted with these caring, considerate and responsible heroes:


King Arthur
Tom Thumb
Sinbad
The Emperor With New Clothes
Jack and the Beanstalk
Rumpelstiltskin
Pinocchio
The Bamboo Cutter
Prince Charming
King Midas
The Pied Piper
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Snowman
The Shoemaker (and the Elves)
Anansi

High-five to the hero!

Genres: Retellings, Fantasy, Picture Books, Childrens, Collections, Fairy Tales, Middle Grade

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Vita Murrow is currently director of the Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy at the Jewish Community Relations Council. She has worked as a teacher, an educational consultant, and in the films department at the Sesame Workshop. She is also a motion media artist and filmmaker.

Reviews

[April (Aprilius Maximus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Power to the Princess: 15 Favorite Fairytales Retold with Girl Power was a much more successful collection than this one unfortunately. Even though it claims to be diverse, this collection could have included so much more representation. I wish it included mental illness, more disability rep, and more MAIN characters of colour.

But that being said, all of these main characters are HUGE hufflepuffs, which I personally really loved.

King Arthur
“It’s your generation that will unite this land.”
representation: divorced parents, death of loved ones, adoption, characters of colour represented in the illustrations.

Tom Thumb
“Nothing is too small to be meaningful.”
representation: characters of colour, interracial relationship.

Hercules
“Hercules also grew tired of Hera’s one-sided affection. She only liked one thing about him, the warrior stuff. But that was only part of who he really was. When no one was looking, Hercules could often be found reading quietly outside the hospital.”
representation: step-parents, Greek main characters.

Sinbad
“Once, beside a green sea, lay a dazzling city carved of white stone.”
representation: potentially characters of colour (not explicitly stated), mentions of different classes.

The Emperor’s New Clothes
“… to be worthy of your respect, I must above all respect myself.”
representation: Asian rep (specific country not stated), other characters of colour shown in illustrations, son who loves fashion.

Pinocchio
“The heart of a real boy is powered by the help they give, and the help they receive.”
representation: boy fairies??? That’s about it lol

Rumpelstiltskin
“You don’t need to be afraid to be yourself.”
representation: characters of colour.

Jack and the Beanstalk
“There are no shortcuts to success.”
representation: mc has two mums, characters of colour.

Quasimodo
“Real sanctuary is not bars, it’s an open door.”
representation: disability rep, characters of colour.

The Snow Man
“The two made an excellent pair indeed.”
representation: m/m relationship.

Prince Charming
“I’m not the one who needs to be seen… Everyone knows who I am. It’s time we started seeing all the people in our kingdom: in parades, on coins, in portraits, and in plays!”
representation: characters of colour.

King Midas
“…I can’t stop life’s peaks and valleys. I can’t stop people from feeling hurt. What I can do is be there, to feel with them and show them that they don’t have to be alone.”
representation: characters of colour represented in the illustrations.

The Pied Piper
“It’s not OK to trivialize Pip’s job… Running our home is just as key a profession as anyone else’s and Pip deserves recognition for it.”
representation: challenges gender roles, characters of colour represented in the illustrations.

The Elves and the Shoemaker
“It’s elves who have breathed new life into the shop.”
representation: characters of colour represented in the illustrations.

Anansi
“If I could, I would pull the moon from the sky for you all.”
representation: characters of colour, a character that uses they/them pronouns.

This one comes out on 1st October. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the review copy!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thank you to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens and Vita Murrow an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*


4 stars.

This is such a good collection of stories where the boy is the main hero of the story. There seem to be so many where it's always the girls who are the heroin so it was really nice to get to read 15 fairy tales such as these.

This collection is also quite modern as well. With themes such as self image, disability and LBGTQ. You never use to see that in children's books so it's quite refreshing.

I can easily see this being a pretty big hit with children and adults of all ages. You are never to old or too young for fairytales and this is a great mix!

[Gladimore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of stories for boys about boys. Unlike many fairytales where the boy is a warrior, or just the prince charming, the boys in this are the true heroes. Modern themes pertaining to boys and society that surrounds them educates children as well as giving them positive role models and a self esteem. A group of stories, illustrations and characters I would share with my son.
#Netgalley

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever reimaginings of well known stories with lovely illustrations. The casual diversity is nice. Reading the stories all at once, a couple of them were a little insipid, but as a one-a-night they'd be fantastic. A great rad and one that will sit beautifully with other story collections.

[Valentina Markasović · Rating 4 out of 5]

All stories are equal, but some are more equal than others.

[Susananne G Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so much to like this book, but that was not the case. I read it as nightly bedtime stories to my seven year old son. The first issue was the use of plural pronouns for singular people. I get that the author did not want to assign genders to the characters, but using they instead of he or she was awkward and ruined the flow of the story. Not only that, it confused my son who is learning about pronouns in school. There is nothing wrong with having boys, girls, men, and women in stories!! It is the job of the author put the value of the story first. The pronouns were especially a problem in the last story "Anansi". The story has six children, but by putting they in every pronoun spot, the reader cannot tell if the comment was made by one child or all of them, especially since the comments change from singular to plural during the conversation.

Additionally, the author drastically changed the stories to suit her needs. I understand that purpose for the stories are to show that boys can be anything they want including tender and sensitive and open. I appreciate the changes in gender roles and ethnicities. I am an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and love the Snowman story, but changing the stories that were meant to tell the history of a people takes from those cultures as well. My son was constantly saying that is not how the story goes. He was confused by the point of the lessons about compassion and listening because he was caught up in the changes. For example, there were no hospitals in ancient Greece, so the story with Hercules as a doctor is unrealistic. Why not just make up completely new stories to add on to the other more established ones instead of trying to rewrite the story entirely? There is no confusion for readers trying to reconcile the different accounts. Hercules could have come back to be a doctor instead of not doing any of the trials at all. Hercules was a savior of the people with his strength and to dismiss his role in Greek mythology is a disservice. The confusion causes young readers to miss the point because they are not mature enough to reconcile the differences in the retelling.

I can not recommend this book to others even though I want to. I wanted to love the lessons and the diverse characters, but they get lost in the adaptations. Even if you are okay with the story liberties, the grammar is appalling.

[Ann]

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

High-Five to the Hero is a collection of 15 stories, all of them retellings of popular fairy tales, legends and myths. Revisited for today’s young readers are short, colorful versions of King Arthur, Tom Thumb, Hercules, Sinbad, Pinocchio, Jack and the Beanstalk, Quasimodo, King Midas, The Pied Piper, and others.

I was torn about this book. As I read it, I hated it. Having raised two sons, I adored the idea of a collection for boys like the recent books popping up for girls – short stories geared to teach important morals and values. The line-up for stories was very promising. Murrow proclaims the importance of talking and listening, community, an understanding heart, being yourself, organizing for community strength and cooperation. Noble strengths to encourage indeed, but I was a bit disturbed when King Arthur’s tale was about bringing together people who were fighting by talking to them and listening to their problems and made no mention of Camelot, the knights, or the Round Table. Quasimodo’s tale became one of a community organizing to save the ‘safe haven’ they shared, and ended with the establishment of a FriendFest.

In revamping these classical tales to more modern values, Murrow has erased the enduring lessons that these tales taught. More, by changing these tales so significantly, I confess that I worry that children who are taught these versions of the tales may not be able to properly connect with their cultural significance. That said, it is time-honored tradition to revisit stories and myths and rework them, so I cannot fault the concept on that front. Also, the book is GLBT-friendly, featuring diverse families, and characters, such as a snowman who finds love with another snowman. Personally, this book wouldn’t be one that I would share with my children, but if you are looking for something in this vein – like Power to the Princess, but for boys – the stories are well written, and the lessons are clear. Each story is a few pages, so they’re quickly read, and the illustrations are delightful.

[Mr Bramley · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be completely honest, I am little disappointed in this book.

I adore the concept, appreciate the thought that went into re-writing the stories, and love the way they adapted them and added new morals and representation that is desperately needed for the children and families who will read it together.
But I found the majority of the stories new plots, and the writing style itself, a little lacklustre.

Of course these are all well known tales, which is always hard to re-write in an interesting and gripping way. I truly enjoyed, however, finally seeing traditional tales filled with offhand representation of queer couples, disabled characters, gender neutral pronouns, and a spectrum of body shapes, colours and expressions, just as it should be. It was definitely a joy to read. I just feel it had so much /more/ potential to be brilliant!

I will highlight the stories I enjoyed the most:
> Pinocchio - for its beautiful moral story of what it means to be a boy, and it's complete tear down of toxic masculinity in the space of 6 pages!
> Rumplestiltskin - for its gentle and magical take on refugees/immigrants, and how you should never compromise on yourself and your heritage just to be liked.
> Quasimodo - for its gentle and uplifting introduction to community activism, and representation of people whose voices deserve to be heard.
> King Midas & The Pied Piper - for their strong and honest representations of fathers who are not afraid to show emotions and throw away societal gender norms.

[Munch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sent a arc of this book via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
2.5
This just fell short for me, I appreciated the messages the author was getting across along with the diversity in both the stories and the illustrations but I can't see many kids being very entertained by them. It just seemed it was all about teaching children above everything else but you need to entertain them at the same time otherwise the message doesn't take root. There are some great ways these stories could have had the same message but be interesting to read, especially since they chose heroes such as King Arthur and Hercules who have action packed adventures in their original tales. Instead they were watered down into something that read more like an essay of social commentary (though it is important commentary), I just think that the entertainment is just as important, especially for children, they will just end up bored and not absorb anything. I'm sorry that I come across so negative about this book, I really do think stories should be told for children showing these values but why make it so boring? It's not all negative, I loved the illustrations and I really enjoyed the sweet tale of the Snowman, it was adorable, I also liked the twist to the King Midas tale.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this collection to be very disappointing compared to its own premise. The main reason was that the story selection, in terms of what life lesson was being taught, was vague and awkward. For instance, the retelling of the Pied Piper was for the purpose of addressing the value of homemakers, no matter their gender. What??? Worse, the version of Jack and the Beanstalk seemed to be somehow related to diet and assumptions of roles. I mean, with the giants being cloud-based fruitarians, and Jack being differently dim and dishonest than in the original, it was hard to tell what lesson it really involved. And really, don't get me started on the Anansi and King Arthur stories. They're just too painful.
The illustrations were cute.
The same author's Power to the Princess was much better. Please read that one instead. It is less likely to make your brain hurt.

[Insert Name Here · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories we all already know are cleverly rewritten, so that Arthur and his knights bring peace by having people talk and Sinbad helps a younger sailor find the courage to voyage. The illustrations are lovely, really bright and nice. This book will join the ranks of the best story collections for children ... or for anyone!

[Tammy Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankyou to netgalley.

Fairy tale retellings ( slightly) making all the boys heroes.
This is a fun little book, while sticking to the original fairy talr but with a modern twist on them.

Read in 1 sitting it was enjoyable and fun and i loved it.

[Em (Makenna) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an arc from netgalley.

The illustrations in the book are the best part, and the stories are good too, for the most part. some of them are a a little bit strange, but overall it is a good book.

[Fern · Rating 3 out of 5]

A refreshingly, bold fairytale anthology that celebrates boy power through a lens that commends masculinity and heroism by heart, spirit and empathy, not by the number of damsels that are rescued or dragons that are slayed.

[DúviAurvandil Ericsson e Pereira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book. Boring, stupid, and disgusting. If the story hasn’t been turned into a bland sludge of a social justice warrior’s rejected undergrad paper, it been injected with so much LGQZ&$?£€[*\% content to be obvious NAMBLA recruiting material. Crap, crappity, crap crap.

[Nancy Valentino]

I'm into the concept but it was horribly contrived. Also, it's all well and good to add in these lovely elements but the downside is that problems that aren't changed or removed come to the forefront (for example, King Arthur's rampant nepotism is never addressed).

[Reve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how these stories are more practical to my life than the scary endings of the Brothers Grimm stories. There are still knights, and castles, but bravery is based more in friendship and kindness.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a signed finished copy of this book at ALA Midwinter 2020.

[JL Salty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Did not love the telling, the art... although I appreciated the idea behind s the telling.