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Modern Fairy Tales: Stories You Should Read to the End
Photo: Kasper Ravlo / Zoonar / IMAGO
Today, fairy tales are a red flag for many people and are no longer a natural part of childhood. Too cruel, as the song “Don’t tell me fairy tales” by the band “Your Friends” goes. The song tells about a child who always fell asleep before the end of the fairy tales and still remembers the stories with horror as an adult.
That's stupid, because if you only get to the grandmother, who is eaten, the dramaturgy is ruined. But if you make it to the good end, the anxious feelings will be overcome. That calmed me down as a child.
The five recommended novels and picture books are written based on or in the spirit of fairy tales. They are freely invented stories, sometimes completely fantastic or just refined with fantastic elements. They are about frogs and princesses, but also about a dog with supernatural powers and a malicious goat with a heart. Because in recent months I have often been asked for book tips for children aged ten and over, three of the five titles are for this age group and only two are for children of pre-reading age.
A wooden fairy tale
Can another picture book surprise me? Yes, it can. For example, “The Little Wooden Robot and the Tree Stump Princess.” Why? Because the Scotsman Tom Gauld uses fairy tale motifs to tell stories, but words and images appear in an unusual form. The texts are unusually short and the images are striking. Dramaturgically, Gauld follows classic fairy tales, including the trials and tribulations of the main characters before they can finally hug their loved one again.
Gauld's idea of telling small subplots in just one picture is also really original. You can expand this into a longer story together while reading aloud and discover your own imagination. But you don't have to, the story works even without the reader's input.
What's going on here?
Two royal children of a special kind: a wooden robot and his sister, the tree stump sister. At night the princess turns into a tree stump, as her name delicately suggests. In the morning her brother has to wake her up with a magic spell and – bang! – she is a princess again. So far so good. Until the princess remains a tree stump in the morning due to a tiny thoughtlessness on her brother's part and is thrown away.
An odyssey begins for the two until they find each other again at the end. What they experience on their journeys teaches us that virtues such as selflessness and willingness to help can also benefit oneself. After all, everyone needs the help of others sometimes, even if it's just a small family of beetles.
Best reading time:
With siblings.
Recommended age:
4 years and up.
Sweeping in Purgatory
Love and hell, two common fairy tale ingredients, are the central themes in the comic “What the Hell?!”. And like many fairy tales, it's about a prince, Jonas, and a girl, Annika, who he adores.
Jonas' mother appears in a great supporting role; a refreshingly normal woman who doesn't care about her son, but who doesn't control his every move either. Then, for example, she would wonder why the boy suddenly collects his boogers in a jar (lie), and the story would quickly end. But luckily she has to watch her tearjerker series “Mr. Honey and Mrs. Stutenschnute”. Jonas is allowed to fight his way alone.
The author and illustrator Patrick Whirlpooleit mentioned in an interview with NDR that he switched from drawing to writing because he had to illustrate such boring books. Good for us. You can see how funny Whirlwind can tell and illustrate things in this film reading sample.
What's going on here?
14-year-old Jonas has a huge crush on Annika, but unfortunately Annika only looks after Tristan on his Vespa. But Jonas knows how to help himself: a Vespa is needed! And first a job, because he has no money and his parents would flip him the bird if he asked them. In the thinned-out job market (the story is probably set in the 1980s), there is only one job that the student is qualified for: ash sweeper in hell.
In this hot cosmos, Jonas has some unusually stupid colleagues at his side. One gives him love advice from the 18th century, the others think Annika is an angel and kidnap her. This isn't helpful at all. In their own idiotic way, the idiots from hell bring the boy closer to Annika in the end. She finally speaks to Jonas. And what Annika has to say is quite surprising.
Best reading time:
When you're lovesick
Recommended age:
10 years and up.
All coincidence
Already noticed? The name Agnes is often used in novels and films for old-fashioned or supernatural characters. This also applies to the children's novel "Agnes and the Dream Key" by the Finnish author Tuutikki Tolonen. The focus is not only on eleven-year-old Agnes, but also on a second Agnes who lived almost a hundred years ago. Both the children and the adults in this story are believable characters that are fun to get to know. And despite several storylines and some flashbacks, the narrative is easy to follow.
What connects the two girls is a shared family history that has so far been kept silent. Tolonen lets three generations and their sad secrets pass us by before everything ends well. Exciting like a crime thriller with a portion of the supernatural.
What's going on here?
After her father disappeared with his new girlfriend to Hungary, Agnes, 11, and her mother moved from Helsinki to small Harmala. Her mother found a good job there as a journalist and the two now have to build a new life. During a walk, the neighbor's dog stubbornly drags Agnes to the gravestone of a child who had the same name as her. Curious, she and her new friend Muffin begin to investigate the girl's fate.
The children's research is accompanied by mysterious appearances and coincidences. It's as if someone is steering Agnes to resolve the story. Like this dog who leads you to important places or the old woman who has a box with a message on display in the museum. Goose flesh.
Best reading time:
Before the next family celebration.
Recommended age:
10 years and up.
And they lived happily
If you think of fairy tales as having something read to you, you will like the dreamy audio book “The Miraculous Journey of Beatryce”. The actress Barbara Nüsse draws the listener into this poetic story with her quiet, nuanced voice from the first sentence. And it's not a short story: you can make yourself comfortable on the sofa or on a train ride for almost five hours, disappear into the strange world of the Middle Ages and forget everything around you.
Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo has created a fairytale story set in the Middle Ages but with timeless themes. It's about friendship and courage, the power of evil - and unconditional love that can save and protect a soul.
What's going on here?
One morning, Brother Edik found a girl of about nine years old in the monastery's goat stable. She apparently dragged herself there with the last of her strength because she is seriously ill. The monk manages to raise the child, but the girl doesn't remember where she came from or what happened to her. She only remembers her name: Beatryce.
When the monk discovers her secret, she has to leave the monastery and flee from the evil forces that want to kill her. Luckily she is accompanied by a hard-headed, mostly spiteful goat and the clever orphan boy Jack, who can run incredibly fast. They will need all of these qualities to save Beatryce.
Best time:
By the campfire.
Recommended age:
10 years and up.
Playful frog story
This picture book does what the title promises - a non-fairy tale. In “Josch, the Frog Prince,” the Viennese author Petra Piuk has happily shaken up the fairy tale of the Frog Prince and redistributed the roles: casual language, modern setting, two-room apartment instead of a castle, the princess is simply called King by her last name.
more on the subject
Children's and young adult literature: What will the world look like the day after tomorrow? By Agnes Sonntag
Children's books about feelings: How are things going? By Agnes Sonntag
The result is an entertaining and chaotic mix of fiction and reality. Due to its non-dogmatic narrative style from different narrative perspectives, it is ideal for reading together. This way you can definitely keep track of things better. The short version of the original at the beginning of the book is practical; it is also told quite freely.
What's going on here?
Jessica König would like to later become a professional footballer for FC St. Pauli. But now she's sitting alone at a muddy hole near the soccer field with a ball and a friendship book because she doesn't dare ask if she can play.
Then a talkative frog appears and transforms Jessica into a frog too. No joke. Together with countless other frog species, she experiences a so-called moor bubble party, where you learn some facts about the animals' appearance and camouflage. A reading book with a game plan, frog quiz and friendship pages.
Best time to read:
At a fountain.
Recommended age:
6 years and up.