I love a good fairy tale. And even more than a good fairy tale, I love a good fairy tale retold. So, when I spotted Fairest of All by Serena Valentino on the shelves of Barnes and Noble recently, I just had to have it.
As you may expect from the title, Fairest of All is the story of the evil stepmother queen from Snow White. Only, when this book starts, the evil queen is just a young, beautiful but insecure bride who doesn't understand why the handsome king would want her for a wife. She loves her new stepdaughter, Snow White, dearly and dotes on her all day long.
As the book goes on, I started to wonder how and when the shift from nice, humble young woman to evil, murdering wretch was going to occur. I did not have long to wait, but I'm certainly not going to spoil any of the plot for you in this post!
I love these stories because they are so creative. I am fascinated with the idea that we can take a story that we've heard forever and look backwards or forwards in that tale to develop characters who seem to be either just plain evil or just too good. One of our seniors suggested that we should read and study fairy tales as part of our curriculum. Let me know what you think about this idea because I am certainly not opposed to it!
This book is currently checked out from the free reading shelf, but keep looking and you'll find it there soon!
