|
I'd like to get my niece a fairytale book; I used to have a few British and Scandinavian ones growing up, and she likes it when I tell her the really gruesome ones. Recently she saved up her pocket money to buy her own book and was a bit disappointed that the stories weren't as macabre as the ones I (kind of) remember, which was sad. Also, I can hardly remember them at all and have ran out of stories. A couple of tales which I remember her liking were a story where a farmer forgets to leave milk out for a local troll and ultimately gets his skin peeled off in the bathhouse, and one where a guy gets tricked by some fairies to become their slave and dance until his legs break. I believe that she likes the tension up to these terrible events, as one realises that everything is going to go badly. She does own a copy of Arabian Nights, but it was my grandmother's copy from the early 1900s and the language is super inaccessible (nevermind racist) for a 9 year old, so ideally I would like something she can read at her own leisure.
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2021 13:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 12:34 |
|
|
The Voice of Labor posted:scary stories to tell in the dark isn't fairy tales and it pr'lly isn't gruesome enough but it's pretty good and has really good art Just looked this up and literally jumped up on my seat- those pictures are really scary, even for an adult! Thanks for the suggestion, but I really would like a collection of fairy tales since she seems entranced by the idea. I'm not specifically looking for a book filled with gruesome folk stories, but enough in to excite her and maybe allow her to show off how brave she is with her friends or something.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 20, 2021 00:22
|
|
|
These are some superb suggestions, thank you very much guys!fez_machine posted:There's a tonne of really good post-modern takes on fairy tales by Janet and Alan Ahlberg. Not particularly gruesome but It Was A Dark And Stormy Night and Ten In A Bed are great stories about children taking ownership of Folk/Fairy Stories in order survive some light danger. She's a bit too old for the Janet and Alan Ahlberg stuff (she also read some of them when she was younger, so might see them as 'kids books' regardless), but I agree that they are great. Selachian posted:I mentioned this recently in the SF thread, but Tanith Lee's Red as Blood is a collection of fairy tales rewritten with a horror spin, usually with heroes and villains reversed -- for instance, the title story, much like "Snow, Glass, Apples," is a retelling of "Snow White" where Snow White is a vampiric monster and the wicked stepmother is trying to stop her. I think she'd love the idea of inverting the fairy tales in Red as Blood, I'll have to trust you on the contents though. Hieronymous Alloy posted:There are a few genuinely good options. I'm going to pick up a copy of Best-Loved Folktales of the World based off your recommendation, and the blurb makes it sound quite enchanting too. If she likes it, I'll check out your other suggestions.  You say that they are not particularly gruesome, but I'd be surprised of not one of the 200 stories of Best-loved Fairy Tales has some horrific element to it. I looked up "Snow Glass Apples" on wikipedia, and I think I'd be uncomfortable giving it to her. I don't know if she knows about rape or not, but I don't want to be the person who introduces that idea!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2021 02:27
|
|