Untold Tales

As he did in A Telling of the Tales: Five Stories , Brooke here recasts familiar fairy tales in inventive--if somewhat bizarre--molds. In a retelling of The Frog Prince , for example, a king who began life as a frog realizes he's happier in his original state. After running the kingdom by herself, his Queen joins him in amphibian bliss when he kisses her . More plodding is a reworking of ``Beauty and the Beast,'' in which a physical role reversal has Beauty the unsightly character and the Beast a paragon of physical perfection. The keenest entry brings an aging Sleeping Beauty together with Prince Charming--after he has spent years married to Snow White, whom he awoke when he tried to practice his kissing technique on her. Brooke eventually weaves Hansel and Gretel--and even himself and the inner workings of his word processor--into this cleverly labyrinthine compendium. The narrative overflows with puns and wordplay, some of which may be lost on readers at the younger edge of the intended audience. Ages 10-up. (June)