Leaping Beauty

August 30, 2004
These eight retellings with animals such as "Cinder-Elephant" and "Goldiefox and the Three Chickens" in the starring roles may well appeal to readers weaned on The Stinky Cheese Man
. Maguire's adaptations tend more toward Grimm than Disney, and take on a modern cast. The frog heroine of "Leaping Beauty," for instance, obviously does not prick her finger; instead she "bite down on a stray explosive from some stupid human engineering project." The mother in "Hamster and Gerbil" is a beaver (the kids are adopted) who dies in the opening scene when a tree falls on her head. When the baboon king marries an evil gorilla queen in "So What and the Seven Giraffes," she orders a hunter (a human being) to leave her stepson (a chimp) in the woods. But the hunter returns with chicken livers from the supermarket rather than the chimp's heart. Maguire (Wicked
; the Hamlet Chronicles) pitches much of the humor over the heads of middle graders (e.g., in "Rumplesnakeskin," a beautiful sheep named Norma Jean must spin straw into gold to keep her movie afloat). But there's clever wordplay—the witchy porcupine threatens to turn Hamster and Gerbil in for "assault and peppery" after catching them snacking on her house—and Demarest's wild and scratchy line drawings help pump up the child appeal. A good choice for those whose tastes run to silly and sillier. Ages 8-12.

November 8, 2004
Maguire (Wicked
; the Hamlet Chronicles) raises fractured fairy tales to a new level of silliness in this laugh-out-loud collection. The author reads his own work with a lively pace and often chipper voice that accentuates his humor without sounding too tongue-in-cheek. The leadoff story turns "Sleeping Beauty" on its ear and stars a baby froglet cursed to "bite down on a stray explosive from some stupid human engineering project, and you shall blow yourself to smithereens!" The curse is modified, of course, to funny effect. Other outings highlight "Little Robin Hood" and "Cinder-Elephant," a big and beautiful belle of the ball who loses one of her glass pie-pan slippers at the stroke of midnight. Ages 8-up.

June 1, 2004
Gr. 5-8. The author of numerous books for children as well as " Mirror, Mirror" (2003) and other adult fairy-tale adaptations tries his hand at parodying for kids in this collection of eight animal tales. In the title story a cursed tadpole becomes, successively, Weeping Beauty, Sleeping Beauty, and finally, Leaping Beauty. Most tales involve slightly skewed but satisfying endings: Goldifox, an unemployed carpenter, moves in with three chickens so that he can make them some comfortable furniture in "Goldifox and the Three Chickens." But a few include references that may be beyond the target audience: the miller's daughter, a blond sheep fond of tight sweaters, changes her name from Norma Jean to Beauty in anticipation of a movie career. Demarest's comical line drawings add humor to the droll text and highlight the tales' absurdities. More upbeat than Vivian Vande Velde's " Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird" (1995) and more complex than Jon Scieszka's " The Stinky Cheese Man" (2002), this is a delightful collection, sure to be popular with sophisticated readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2005
These breezy parodies of fairy tales cast a bratty chimp called "So What" in the role of Snow White, substitute Hamster and Gerbil for Hansel and Gretel, and turn the three pigs into three penguins. Incorporating contemporary dialogue and pop culture references that sometimes fall flat, the eight sporadically funny stories are illustrated with energetic black-and-white cartoons.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

August 1, 2004
Gr 3-6-Eight well-known fairy tales are recast, with the aid of animal characters and outrageous puns (with some tongue-in-cheek witticisms thrown in), into such stories as "Little Red Robin Hood" and "Cinderelephant." In one of the most entertaining stories, "Rumplesnakeskin," a gorgeous and tough-talking sheep named Norma Jean changes her name to Beauty and ends up being forced to spin straw into gold to finance the king's latest failing movie venture. Demarest's madcap illustrations add energy and fun to a somewhat uneven collection. While kids will laugh out loud at the irrepressible youngest sibling in "The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus," some of the selections, including "Leaping Beauty," seem labored and uninspired. However, fans of Dav Pilkey and Jon Scieszka will appreciate the zany situations and the joyful fracturing of traditional tales.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.