Novel-Length Fairy Tale Adaptations

Fairy Tales to Read Online • Modern Adaptations • Fractured Fairy Tales • Folktale Types • The Heroine's Journey • The Hero's Journey • NonEuropean Fairies

Also try the Hero's and Heroine's Journey Booklist

Novels Collections Children's Books Movies and Television Graphic Novels Games Commentary Websites

(Note: By Fairy Rescue I mean something close to Tam Lin, where the heroine must enter fairyland to rescue a beloved.)

Novel-Length Fairy Tale Adaptations

The Fairy Tale Series edited by Terri Windling

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars Steven Brust

The Nightingale Kara Dalkey

Tam Lin Pamela Dean

Jack the Giant-Killer Charles de Lint

Fitcher's Brides Gregory Frost

White as Snow Tanith Lee

Snow White and Rose Red Patricia C. Wrede

Briar Rose Jane Yolen

Margaret Atwood

The Robber Bride

The Penelopiad

Bluebeard’s Egg

Mercedes Lackey

The Black Swan (Swan Lake)

Firebird

Elemental Masters series

The Fire Rose (Beauty and the Beast)

Gates of Sleep (Sleeping Beauty)

Phoenix and Ashes (Cinderella)

Reserved for the Cat (Puss in Boots)

The Serpent’s Shadow (Snow White)

500 Kingdoms series

The Fairy Godmother (Mixed)

Fortune's Fool (Little Mermaid, Basilisk)

One Good Knight (St. George, Perseus)

The Snow Queen

The Sleeping Beauty

Beauty and the Werewolf

Gregory Maguire

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wizard of Oz)

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel (Cinderella)

Mirror Mirror: A Novel (Snow White)

Lost: A Novel (Peter Pan and others)

The Dream Stealer (Vasilisa the Beautiful)

Matchless: An Illumination of Hans Christian Andersen's Classic "The Little Match Girl"

Julliet Marillier (all this author’s books are heavier with fairytale tropes than most fantasy)

Daughter of the Forest (Wild Swans)

Heir to Sevenwaters (Fairy Rescue)

Seer of Sevenwaters (Selkie)

Wolfskin (The Singing Bones)

Wildwood Dancing (Dancing Princesses/Frog Prince)

Heart's Blood (Beauty and the Beast)

Dennis L. McKiernan

Once Upon a Winter's Night (East o’ the Sun)

Once Upon a Summer Day (Sleeping Beauty)

Once Upon an Autumn Eve (Fairy Rescue, Glass Mountain)

Once Upon a Spring Morn (Childe Roland and others)

Once Upon a Dreadful Time

Robin McKinley

Beauty (Beauty and the Beast)

Deerskin

Rose Daughter (Beauty and the Beast)

The Door in the Hedge (Fairy Rescue)

Spindle’s End (Sleeping Beauty)

John Moore

The Unhandsome Prince (The Frog Prince and others)

Heroics for Beginners (Evil Overlord clichés)

A Fate Worse than Dragons (St. George)

Bad Prince Charlie (politics)

Slay and Rescue (mixed)

Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters (Hamlet/Macbeth)

Witches Abroad (Cinderella and others)

Lords and Ladies (Fairy Rescue)

Josepha Sherman

The Shining Falcon (Russian tale Finist the Falcon)

King's Son, Magic's Son (Child ballad King Estmere)

Stand Alone Novels:

Till We Have Faces (Cupid and Psyche) C.S. Lewis

Enchantment (Sleeping Beauty, Baba Yaga) Orson Scott Card

The Wild Swans Pegg Kerr

Thomas the Rhymer Ellen Kushner

Beauty Sherri S. Tepper (Sleeping Beauty and others)

Bluebeard Kurt Vonnegut

Do With Me What You Will Joyce Carol Oates (The Armless Maiden)

Sleeping in Flame (Rumpelstiltskin) Jonathan Carroll
Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (Sleeping Beauty) Roger Zelazny

Solstice Wood (Fairy Rescue) Patricia A. McKillip

Roses (Beauty and the Beast) Barbara Cohen

Silver Woven in My Hair (Cinderella) Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Short Fiction Collections

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, editors (Snow White, Blood Red series)

Snow White, Blood Red

Black Thorn, White Rose

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears

Black Swan, White Raven

Silver Birch, Blood Moon

Black Heart, Ivory Bones

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, editors (Children’s Collections)

A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales

The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest

Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold

Troll's-Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales

The Faery Reel

The Coyote Road

The Beastly Bride

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Angela Carter

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins Emma Donoghue
Truly Grim Tales Priscilla Galloway

Little Red Riding Hood in the Big Bad City Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers, eds.

Feminist Fairy Tales Barbara G. Walker

Tales From the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird Vivian Vande Velde and Brad Weinman

Red as Blood: Or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer Tanith Lee

Can't Catch Me and Other Twice-Told Tales Michael Cadnum

Harrowing the Dragon Patricia A. McKillip

The Rose and the Beast Francesca Lia Block

Once Upon A Crime Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, eds.

Twice Upon A Time Denise Little, ed.

The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors Terri Windling

Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales Jack Zipes

Grimm Tales Made Gay Guy Wetmore

Legally Correct Fairy Tales David Fisher

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life and Times James Finn Garner

Once Upon a More Enchanted Time James Finn Garner

Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales Gregory Maguire

Goldilocks on Management: 27 Revisionist Fairy Tales for Serious Managers Gloria Gilbert Mayer and Thomas Mayer.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales Kate Bernheimer

Red Ridin' in the Hood: and Other Cuentos Patricia Santos Marcantonio

Fractured Fairy Tales A.J. Jacobs

Poetry

Some poems can be found in the Snow White, Blood Red Series, Xanadu series, and other anthologies.

Try Also:

The Poets' Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales Jeanne Marie Beaumont and Claudia Carlson, eds.

Transformations Anne Sexton

Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry Wolfgang Mieder, ed.

The Animal Bridegroom Sandra Kasturi

Children's and YA Books

Toads and Diamonds Heather Tomlinson

Except the Queen Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder

Quiver (Atlanta) Stephanie Spinner

East (East of the Sun, West of the Moon) Edith Pattou

Orfe Cynthia Voight

I Was a Rat! Philip Pullman

Bella at Midnight Diane Stanley

Just Ella Margaret Peterson Haddix
Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Novel Adeline Yen Mah
Cinderella (As If You Didn't Already Know the Story) Barbara Ensor

Entwined (Twelve Dancing Princesses) Heather Dixon

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival Louise Murphy
Half Upon a Time (Jack and the Beanstalk) James Riley
A Tale Dark and Grimm (Hansel and Gretel) Adam Gidwitz

Shadow Spinner (Arabian Nights) Susan Fletcher
Straw into Gold Gary D. Schmidt
The Perilous Gard (Tam Lin) Elizabeth Marie Pope

Patricia Wrede

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Michael Buckley and Peter Ferguson

The Sisters Grimm series

P. W. Catanese
The Further Adventures Tales

Wendy Mass

Twice Upon a Time series

Simon Pulse

Once Upon a Time Series:

Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella" by Cameron Dokey
Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" by Cameron Dokey
Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" by Cameron Dokey
Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" by Cameron Dokey

Sunlight and Shadow (The Magic Flute) by Cameron Dokey

The Storyteller's Daughter A Retelling of "The Arabian Nights" by Cameron Dokey
Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan" by Cameron Dokey

Winter's Child (The Snow Queen) by Cameron Dokey
The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk) by Cameron Dokey

The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" by Suzanne Weyn
Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" Suzanne Weyn

The Night Dance: A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" by Suzanne Weyn

Violet Eyes (Princess and the Pea) by Debbie Viguié
Spirited by Nancy Holder

The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride by Nancy Holder
The Diamond Secret (Anastasia) by Suzanne Weyn
Scarlet Moon (Red Riding Hood) by Debbie Viguié
Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid" by Debbie Viguié

Snow: A Retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" by Tracy Lynn

Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens

Princess School Series

ED Baker

Tales of the Frog Princess Series

The Wide-Awake Princess (Sleeping Beauty)

Clare B. Dunkle

The Hollow Kingdom (Beauty and the Beast)

Close Kin

In the Coils of the Snake

Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball (Cinderella)

Princess of Glass (Cinderella)

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (Norse, East of the Sun)

Robin Palmer

Cindy Ella

Geek Charming (The Frog Prince)
Little Miss Red

Jackson Pearce
Sweetly (Hansel and Gretel)
Sisters Red (Riding Hood)
As You Wish (Three Wishes)

Dawn Lairamore

Ivy's Ever After

Ivy and the Meanstalk

Shannon Hale

The Goose Girl
Book of a Thousand Days (Maid Maleen)

Rapunzel's Revenge: Fairy Tales for Feminists (collection)

Diana Wynne Jones
Fire and Hemlock (Tam Lin)

Howl's Moving Castle (Cinderella)

Gail Carson Levine

Cinderellis and the Glass Hill (Princess on the Glass Hill)
Ella Enchanted (Cinderella)
The Fairy's Mistake (Toads and Diamonds)
The Princess Test (Princess and the Pea)
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep (Sleeping Beauty)

The Wish

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Betsy Who Cried Wolf

The Fairy's Return (Golden Goose)

For Biddle's Sake (Puddocky)

Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg

Fairest (Snow White)

Ever

Fairies and the Quest for Never Land

Malinda Lo

Huntress

Ash (Cinderella)

Donna Jo Napoli

Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
Bound (Cinderella)
Breath (Pied Piper)
Crazy Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk)
The Great God Pan

Jimmy, Pickpocket of the Palace (Frog Prince)
The Magic Circle (Hansel and Gretel)
Prince of the Pond (Frog Prince)
Sirena (The Little Mermaid)

Spinners (Rumpelstiltskin)
The Wager (Bearskin)

Zel (Rapunzel)

Terry Pratchett

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Pied Piper)
The Wee Free Men (Fairy Rescue)

A Hat Full of Sky

Wintersmith

I Shall Wear Midnight

Delia Sherman

Through a Brazen Mirror

Porcelain Dove

Changeling

The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen

Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple.

Pay the Piper: A Rock'n' Roll Fairy Tale

Troll Bridge: A Rock'n' Roll Fairy Tale

Movies and Miniseries

(There are many classic Cinderellas and so forth. And the range of children’s movies from the traditional to the fractured. But some are a bit more imaginative and adaptive, breathing new life and messages into the old classic fairytales.)

Musicals

Into the Woods

Wicked

Movies

Enchanted

Pan’s Labyrinth

Ever After

Pretty Woman

Snow White: A Tale of Terror

DysEnchanted

The Shrek Movies

Snow White and the Three Stooges

The Brothers Grimm

Jack and the Beanstalk

Television Shows

The Charmings

Beauty and the Beast

Fractured Fairy Tales in Rocky and Bullwinkle
Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre

Papa Beaver's Story Time

Happily Ever After

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics

Once Upon a Time

Grimm

Miniseries and DVD Movies

The 10^th Kingdom

The Snow Queen

Tinman

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk

The Storyteller
Snow White: Fairest of Them All

The BBC Fairy Tales anthology

Lotte Reiniger: The Fairy Tale Films (animated shorts)
From the Brothers Grimm Davenport Films short movies set in rural America. See http://www.davenportfilms.com./pages/main_frombrosgrimm.html for details and ordering.

Graphic Novels Series

Fables Bill Willingham
Sandman Neil Gaiman

Computer Games

King's Quest Robert WIlliams

(This mixed-up fairytale adventure series is fantastic for all ages. The first three have been rereleased as free fan-made adaptations with much better graphics and sound. #1 still has a weak story, but #2 is now truly fantastic.)

King's Quest 1

King's Quest 2

King's Quest 3

Great Commentary

On Fairy Tale Retellings

Fairy Tales Reimagined: Essays on New Retellings Susan Redington Bobby

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales Kate Bernheimer (Editor)

Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children Amie A. Doughty

Critical and Creative Perspectives on Fairy Tales: An Intertextual Dialogue Between Fairy-Tale Scholarship and Postmodern Retellings (Fairy-Tale Studies) by Vanessa Joosen

New Tales for Old: Folktales As Literary Fictions for Young Adults Anna E. Altmann

Tales, Then and Now: More Folktales As Literary Fictions for Young Adults Anna E. Altmann

On Fairy Tales

Aarne, Antti, The Types of the Folk-Tale: a Classification and Bibliography, 2nd ed. trans. Stith Thompson

Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment

Dundes, Alan, ed., Cinderella, A Casebook

Estés, Clarissa Pinkola, Women Who Run With the Wolves

Gould, Joan, Spinning Straw into Gold

Leavy, Barbara Fass, In Search of the Swan Maiden

Luthi, Max, Once Upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales

Paradiz, Valerie, Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales

Sale, Roger, Fairy Tales and After