There's nothing I love more than fairytale retellings! Some of my favourite children's books to date are based on fairytales and the market is becoming noticeably larger. There's Roald Dahl's unforgettable classic Revolting Rhymes and Hilary Robinson/Nick Sharratt's brilliant Mixed Up Fairy Tales. And not to mention the recent Once Upon a Wild by Chris Riddell, Power to the Princess and Fairytales for Feisty Girls!

The delightful Big Book of Twisted Fairy Tales makes for a beautiful addition to the above even if it might get a little lost next to its competitors. 

Sue Nicholson has written some wonderful tales highlighting kindness, responsibility, honest and teamwork, and I'm loving the diversity captured within its pages, but what really made this picture book stand out to me was the next step discussion points and activities at the end of each tale. This will make for a wonderful conversation starter between parent and child, whilst offering encouragement and support to apply the lessons learnt into your own life.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  			
			
From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.			
			
Once upon a time, there was a misty blue mountain. Below the misty blue mountain was a wild, dark forest and by the wild, dark forest was a village. The village had a stream and a duck pond and an old red apple tree and it was home to Cinderella and her fairytale friends. 

The Fairytale Friends series brings fairy tales into the modern day and features scenarios that young children can relate to and learn from. Each story in this new picture book series focuses on a different fairy tale character, a different strength or core virtue, and a challenge to overcome, often with the help of their friends. Readers will enjoy spotting characters from other books and recognizing key elements of the original fairy tale while enjoying the new twist. Notes and questions at the back of the book will summarize what the character has learnt and prompt further discussion while activities will provide more fairytale fun. 
 
Cinderella wants more than anything to have lessons at the new dance school opening in the village, but she doesn’t have any ballet shoes! Can Cinderella’s fairytale friends help make her dream come true? This story teaches children about the value of kindness.
 
Beauty has a lovely pony called Flick, but having a pony is hard work and Beauty can be a bit lazy sometimes. Then, one night, Flick runs away. Will he ever come back? This story teaches children about the value of responsibility.
 
Jack loves climbing, but he isn't allowed to climb the beanstalks in his garden. One night, Jack can resist no longer and starts to climb the tall, green beanstalks. Will Jack's Mum find out? And will he tell her the truth? This story teaches children about the value of honesty.
 
Snow White is one of the village football team's best players. But she wants to score all the goals herself and never passes the ball to her friends. Will she ever learn to play as part of a team? This story teaches children about the value of teamwork.


When your nieces and nephews call this book's stories silly and preachy I wonder if the point will get across --- fairy tales are FAIRY TALES.  They are not feminist, let's give everyone a trophy for showing up kind of books.  Sure they can learn a lesson, but why not have a bedtime story be fun and enjoyable and let kids be kids. You can teach your kids morals in everyday life through their actions - let stories be stories. #IsaidthatIwouldbehonest

	
NOTE: I STILL cannot link this review to LinkedIn - there is something wrong with the linking/programming and it will not happen.

"The Big Book of Twisted Fairy Tales" is an updated version of old favorites: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk and Snow White, to be specific. As the title states, these are not the same old fairy tales. Each fairy tale has a unique character focus, and moral/lesson to go along with it. Stories are predictable with interesting illustrations. Cute use in a Prek-2 classroom as a mentor text for SEL lessons.

I love fairy tales and believe we can learn a lot from them.  I always enjoy reading twists on the classic fairy tales I grew up with.
These would be a brilliant addition to a classroom or bedroom....perfect for teaching those valuable lessons about  sharing, kindness, honesty and being part of a team.. These are sometimes the hardest lessons to learn but by incorporating them into well known tales, it could work brilliantly.
I loved the idea of discussion points and an activity idea at the end of each story.

I will definitely be buying this title for home and school.
The illustrations are excellent and colourful....bright and engaging.

5 stars from me!

An excellent way to introduce younger students and children to the concepts of kindness, responsibly, honesty and teamwork. The stories could also be adapted for use in the middle-school classroom as a reminder of some of these skills! :)

I need this in my classroom library! This even have discussion points and what to do next after you read each story!!! I absolutely loved this book so much!!

A great twist on 4 classic Fairy Tales. This book was so cute and the illustrations were so beautiful so much detail on every page. I thought each story was well written and had a great lesson to be learnt kindness, responsibility, honesty and team work. My 4 year old enjoyed all the stories and as soon as I was done asked me to read them all again! I think we have a new favourite bedtime book!

I  had high hopes for this collection of stories. I'd love to see some variations on the traditional fairy tales that involve strong female role models. This is not that book. The illustrations are cute and I can see what the writer is going for. BUT, the 'lessons' are superficial and involve magic to make their poor decisions right again, which is unrealistic. They stories are neither clever nor funny, and they don't really give parents and children much to discuss at the end.

Unfortunately my copy of this has format issues. Most of the pages were blank. I'm using a Samsung tablet.

My 5 year old daughter loved the unique versions of the fairytales. I loved how each story had an attribute associated with it (kindness, responsibility etc) and had short discussions at the end.

Ahh! <i>The Big Book of Twisted Fairy Tales</i> by Sue Nicholson and illustrated by Flavia Sorrentino was so damn cute! Not only was this a children's book that supports diversity, with the characters of Jack from <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i> and Snow from <i>Snow White</i> as people of color, which is something I can't help being thoroughly excited to scream about, but also has a bunch of different messages to teach young kids with all their favorite fairy tales of the past and I am so here for this. Granted, I think these messages are sent all the time, but I love the format through which the author decided to teach them to the kids out there and I am also always overly eager to get my hands on fairytale retellings.

I do somewhat think the title is kind of misleading since I do picture something entirely different for the word "twisted" that does not have to do with good, exactly. I imagine twisted to represent a sort of awful change--in a good way--to an original story. In the case of this book, the <i>twist</i> is really just that the characters are a <i>lot </i>more realistic and relatable to your average child. There aren't really princesses, but Cinderella's family is poor and hardworking. Social class doesn't thoroughly separate friends, but Beauty's family is fairly well off. Jack's family kind of owns a farm and Snow White loves soccer. Also, there is no fairy godmother, but rather just a plain old godmother for the children who is present in each of their stories.

Speaking of stories, this children's book gives you four of them! One for each of the four characters I mentioned above, each one focusing on different messages from kindness to responsibility and good behavior to being a team player. And while, personally, I find realistic stories aren't exactly my cup of tea, I can definitely say that I see a lot of children really relating to and feeling a resonance with the stories collected in this adorable little book. And best of all, the artwork is the perfect mix of cute and simple, reminding me a bit of some of the popular children's shows out nowadays.

All in all, this is definitely a book to have on your radar, especially if you or your children love fairy tales!

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This is not what I have come to expect from the "twisted" fairy tales but it would be enjoyable to a younger child and could be used as a teaching tool. 
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jack(from the beanstalk) and Snow White are presented in different situations where your child will see how kindness, responsibility, honesty and teamwork can help them attain goals and lead to a happier outcome, Each chapter has colorful, engaging illustrations and discussion and activities at the end. 
I think this would be a good book for kindergarten or a library story time.
Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my opinion.

I read this to my niece, she loved the stories and the pictures. I am seriously considering whether to buy it for her.