Inspired by transformation in the tales of Snow-White and Rose-Red and Swan Lake, McLemore has created a beautiful story of magical realism in lyrical prose.  The title characters are two sisters who come from a long line of women in a Latinx family that has been cursed for generations. The curse is that there are always two daughters and one is chosen by the swans to become one of them. Roja has always know it would be her, for she is seen as the one with darker skin and fiery red-black hair and wicked, passionate ways.  Blanca of the fair skin and hair is the sweet, obedient, graceful one.
They are the yin and yang and closer than a circle.  Together they vow to break the curse.  While they hope to stop the transformation to swan, two missing boys have become a bear and a cygnet. A rich boy from an abusive family has become Yearling the bear. The cygnet is Page, a trans boy from a family who grow apples as if it is an art. Love happens to all but not as expected and with dire consequences.  Can destiny be avoided, can expectations and assumptions be shattered?
“The story of the ugly duckling was never about the cygnet discovering he is lovely. It is not a story about realizing you have become beautiful. It is about the sudden understanding that you are something other than what you thought you were, and that what you are is more beautiful that what you once though you had to be.”
One of the most beautiful books I have read, magic, fierce, bright and unforgettable. 
 
 Tessa's Picks
7th-8th grade, Character driven, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, LGBTQ, Romance, People of Color 

​If you believe in faeries, you should read this book as everything you thought about truth and the fierce beauty of that in-between world will be confirmed. If you don’t believe, you should even more so read this book so that you can experience that twilight world where dreams can be real and faerie “makings” encompass everything from transfiguration to keys made of poems and dance.
Clare is 14 and returned to Ireland and the domed underground house of her birth and the yew tree that grows within.  She is the latest of the tree’s guardians; her dead mother and all those grandmothers before her are a legacy.
Within the tree’s between place, she meets Finn, a boy part fairy, part human who she knew as a toddler.  Together they embark on quest to save the two worlds from forever closing which would cut the human world off from the ability to dream and create and the fairies from the ability to love.
Finn’s father Balor is a hideously fierce and unfeeling opponent to be faced and bound before he can destroy the gateway for ever. Here be true magic, both bright and dark. Gorgeous, haunting and wonderfully strange.  Dare to enter this world.


​Tessa's Picks, 5th-8th grade, Fairy tales, Fantasy, Supernatural

Elle's life is controlled by her wicked step-mother. One of the only bright spots is Starfield, a show her parents loved when they were alive. When it's announced that the latest teen heart-throb is cast as the lead in the new reboot, she's crushed. But when a costume contest for the show at the local comic con is announced, she sees its cash prize as her ticket to freedom. In her quest to alter her dad's costume and make it to the masquerade ball she'll find an unexpected fairy godmother and an even more surprising prince charming.

This is a great retelling of the Cinderella story. The magic pumpkin is replaced with a vegan food truck, the fairy godmother is a surly coworker, and the evil step-mother is...well...an evil step-mother. Some things don't change. I like that the story alternates between Elle's perspective and the actor playing the lead. Even better it turns out that he's more than some brainless heart-throb and is actually a huge fan of the show.

​Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Erica's Picks
6th - 8th Grade
Tags: ​contemporary fiction, fairy tales, people of color, retellings, romance

You may think you know the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel but don't believe everything a bard tells you. And what about those nameless Princes Charming? Read this book to get the low-down: the pampered, sheltered life was not enough for Cinderella. Rapunzel saved herself and her prince never lived it down. Sleeping Beauty is a spoiled brat. Snow White's prince can't be left unsupervised. Somehow this unlikely band finds themselves thrown together on a quest to save each other, defeat an evil witch, and show the world that they're more than their stories.

This book is a hilarious take on classic fairy tales. Having the various Princes Charming meet and lament over their plight at being looked over for their princesses adds a fun twist. Each have very distinct personalities and watching them interact and learn to get along is both entertaining and touching. It contains a lot of great lessons ranging from how to be a good friend to how to be true to your self. I particularly appreciate that there's male characters who are hopeless with swords and fierce female fighters and vice versa. The illustrations throughout only add to the already ample humor.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
Erica's Picks
​Tags: Adventure, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Friendship, Humor, People of Color, Retellings

The Lady Lamorna wants a beautifully hideous new dress. A dress with skulls all along the hem and a motif of poison ivy with blood-red petticoats. There is only one problem: her supply of gold is running a bit low. So she conceives of a wonderfully awful plan to turn the princes of the neighboring kingdoms into frogs and then charge their parents for her potions to  return them to their royal selves. But people keep messing up her perfect plan: trueheart Gracie Gillypot, Gracie's evil stepsister, a fast-talking bat, and even one of the princes. Lamorna will make them regret interfering.  

I love the dark humour of this book and its fairy tale feel.  Fans of Lemony Snicket  will love this funny, fantastic series

The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French

Erica's Picks
3rd - 5th Grade
Tags: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Horror, Humor

Ash should have known better. Perhaps she would have if her mother had lived long enough to teach her the old ways. But her mother did not live and Ash did not hear her warnings,  so she spent nights by her mother’s graveside, attracting the attention of fairies. Fairies may be beautiful, but they can also be deadly. Ash doesn’t care though. When her father died soon after her mother, she was sent to live as a servant to her stepmother and stepsisters. When life is barely worth living, you don't mind a little danger. Then, Ash meets someone who makes her glad to be alive. She risks it all for one night of happiness, for a ball.

Reading Ash was like discovering the Cinderella story all over again. The world was similar to the classic fairy tale setting, but far richer. I'd give this to fans of fairy tales retold.

Ash by Malinda Lo

Erica's Picks
6th - 8th Grade
Tags: Character Driven, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, LGBTQ, People of Color, Retellings, Romance

Princess Patricia Priscilla is not looking forward to her sixteenth birthday ball. At it she will have to choose one of her suitors to marry and each is more disgusting than the next: Duke Desmond of Dyspepsia who is as ugly and irritable as a warthog and forbids all mirrors in his kingdom, Prince Percival of Pustula who has too many mirrors and a heart as black as his oily hair, and the Conjoint Counts Colin and Cuthbert who are too busy fighting with each other to care about anything. Princess Priscilla decides to escape her awful fate and her castle life for one week and see what it's like to go to school as a normal village child.

This book was absolutely charming. A light-hearted fairy tale full of rhymes, alliteration, and simple morals. The characters are completely over the top and hilarious. The illustrations by Feiffer are delightful.  It would make a good read-aloud.

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

Erica's Picks 
2nd - 4th Grade
Tags: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Humor

Of the two Reckless brothers, Jacob was always the one who lived up to the family name. Ever since he discovered the world behind the mirror he's made Reckless into his job description as he travels the fairy-tale world hunting for treasures. A comb that turns you into a crow will fetch a high price, if you can escape the witch who owns it and live to collect your reward. Will never knew about the world his brother disappeared to, he only knew that he was often left alone. Then one day Will discovers his secret and follows him in, only to fall victim to a fairy's curse that is slowly turning him to stone. Now the clock is ticking and Jacob will have to use everything he's learned if he wants to save Will. He never imagined that his brother's life would be the most dangerous treasure he's ever sought.

There's enough of the familiar fairy tales in this world to please readers with recognition and enough new elements to intrigue them. The book is fast-paced and the tone is dark.  Be warned: this isn't a Disney fairy tale of happily ever after, this is a world where sleeping beauty never woke up and her castle is covered in the bodies of those who tried, and failed, to save her.

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Erica's Picks
7th - 8th Grade
Tags: Adventure, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fast-Paced, Retellings

Cinder can't believe her luck--the crowned prince at her stall seeking her mechanical expertise! It's the kind of encounter every girl in New Beijing dreams of. And he chose to come on the day she was missing a foot! Not that a prince would ever date a cyborg. Still, the way he looked at her with those gorgeous eyes has helped her to understand her sisters' obsession. They have bigger problems to occupy their minds, though. The city is ravaged by a mysterious plague that the King has contracted and cyborgs are being drafted for fatal testing to find a cure. In the midst of the outbreak, the mysterious Lunar Queen is threatening war unless her demands are met. Cinder is poised to lose everyone she has ever trusted--including herself.

I'm a sucker for fairy tales retold and this is a particularly good one. It has familiar elements to serve as friendly signposts, but it didn't follow the story too closely. I love the theme of cyborg rights and what it means to be human. Cinder is a strong heroine and a skilled mechanic. Prince Kai goes beyond the bland prince charmings completely lacking personality so common in fairy tales. I'd recommend this to fans of fairy-tales retold or science fiction.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Grades 6th - 8th
Tags: Dystopian, Fairy Tales, Retellings, Romance, Science Fiction