Fractured fairy tales are a super fun genre of books that are twists on the classics many of us learn during childhood. These books can be fun to share with pre-schoolers and elementary students, but can even be fun to introduce a folklore unit in secondary level classrooms. Comparing and contrasting these tongue-in-cheek fairy tales to the more traditional tales can also be a great exercise in narrative skills and is great for cognitive development!
Here are some of my favorite fractured fairy tale books, check them out!
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
This book is a Caldecott Honoree for its excellent illustrations. The print is actively part of the story and illustrations, and the stories are hilarious for both kids and adults, including bizarre and funny re-fashionings of tales like Chicken Licken and The Ugly Duckling.
Picking up where the story of the frog prince left off, this story shows what happens after the "happily ever after."
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka
Told from the perspective of "the big bad wolf," he argues that he was involved in a great misunderstanding and was really just suffering from an especially bad head cold, complete with huffing, puffing sneezes.
Don't Kiss the Frog: Princess Stories with Attitude chosen by Fiona Waters
A great collection of funny princess stories like "The Clumsy Princess" and "Sleepy Beauty".
