Fairy Tales of Fearless Girls

In McFarlane’s four amusingly reimagined fairy tales, hapless heroines are recast as resourceful young women. Rapunzel, an inveterate tinkerer, cuts off her heavy braid and turns it into a zipline to engineer her own escape from the tower: “Rapunzel thought. Rapunzel sketched. Rapunzel planned and pondered.” Little Red Riding Hood cleverly uses her grandmother’s herbal lore to knock out the wolf with a sedative tea. Cinderella thriftily sells her remaining glass slipper to establish an animal sanctuary, where she is joined by a prince who forswears hunting for mucking stables. And a dauntless Thumbelina puns her way (a happy rabbit is “A hoptimist!”) through setbacks to find her own people. Though each tale has a dedicated illustrator, the artwork, rendered throughout in a dull lilac hue, is united by a cartoony sensibility. A satisfying read for children seeking classic tales with a feminist bent. Final art not seen by PW. Publishing simultaneously: Bold Tales of Brave-Hearted Boys. Ages 5–9. [em](Oct.) [/em]