Episode 45: Once Upon a Fairy Tale Retelling

25/11/2025 56 min
Episode 45: Once Upon a Fairy Tale Retelling

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Episode Synopsis

Fairy tale retelling are having a moment, a moment that has extended for, like, millennia, but now the trend feels particularly hot. Host Susan Maguire sat down with librarian and Booklist reviewer Lucy Lockley about what’s behind the fanfare and some titles and authors you should know. Then Audio Editor Heather Booth spoke to an art educator Heather Kostal about how she uses audiobooks in the classroom. Finally, Books for Youth’s Ronny Khuri and I chatted about picture books about poop and other topics. We cover everything!

Here's what we talked about:
Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine
The Kingdom of Sweets, by Erika Johansen
The Swallowed Man, by Edward Carey
A Sorceress Comes to Call, by T. Kingfisher
Alice, by Christina Henry
Horseman, by Christina Henry
Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
Mary McMyne
After the Forest, by Kel Woods
Sistersong, by Lucy Holland
Song of the Huntress, by Lucy Holland
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
The Summer War, by Naomi Novik
The Witch’s Heart, by Genevieve Gornichec
A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow
Thief Liar Lady, by D. L. Soria
Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher
After Happily Ever: An Epic Novel of Midlife Rebellion, by Jennifer Safrey
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters (Ameila Peabody series)
The Maiden and Her Monster, by Maddie Martinez
Cinder House, by Freya Marske
Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance: The Forgotten Founding Mothers of the Fairy Tale and the Stories That They Spun, by Jane Harrington, illustrated by Khoa Le
F*cked Up Fairy Tales: Sinful Cinderellas, Prince Alarmings, and Other Timeless Classics, by Liz Gotauco
The Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park, read by David Baker
The Boxcar Children series
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, read by Jeff Woodman
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, read by Tatiana Maslany
Murder of a Movie Star, by L. B. Hathaway
Henry Is an Artist, written and illustrated by Justin Worsley
Little Moments in a Big Universe, written and illustrated by Todd Stewart
Max in the Land of Lies, by Adam Gidwitz
Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz