Once Upon a Time...

Okay, more book recommendations!

For those of you out there with teenage girls I highly recommend the Once Upon a Time series. They take classic fairy tales and give them a little twist. I know, I know, they're for younger people but I can't stop reading them. What I like best about them is that (so far) all of the parents love their children and the siblings get along, because while I enjoyed classic fairy tales, I could never relate (thank goodness) to stories of parents neglecting their kids or siblings treating each other terribly. For instance, in After Midnight, a retelling of Cinderella, the father pretty much abandons his daughter due to his grief over his wife's death but the step mother and step sisters are the ones who treat her as one of their own. Well, after a few chapters of mistaken identity anyway.

After Midnight is my favorite so far but I also really liked Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and Beauty Sleep (Sleeping Beauty). I've also read The Storyteller's Daughter (Arabian Nights or 1001 Nights) and I have Wild Orchid (Mulan) at home waiting to be read. I've only read the ones (re)written by Cameron Dokey so I can't speak to the quality of the others in the series but they include: The Little Mermaid, The Frog Prince, Snow White, Rapunzel, The Magic Flute, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Little Red Riding Hood and Rumpelstiltskin.

So moms, you might want to read them first before having your kids read them just in case there is something in there that you'd rather not have them read but I think that you'll enjoy them yourselves. Belle and Beauty Sleep would also be great to read aloud to younger kids as a bedtime story.