Amanda Maurer is a coffee drinker, book reader, writer, and creator, as well as a student at Loyola University Chicago, where she is majoring in English and Multimedia Journalism.
Reader Advisory is a series in which community and business leaders and our staff offer their top 5 books on any topic. To contribute, e-mail [email protected].
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (series)
Meyer’s quartet, The Lunar Chronicles, is perhaps the most popular series of retellings within the Young Adult literary world. Featuring adaptations of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White, this thrilling futuristic series will defy your childhood expectations.
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka and Lane Smith
Do you ever find that as you grow older, you tend to sympathize more with the villain than with the hero? Well, in 32 short pages, this children’s book makes readers of any age feel exactly that.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Same idea as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, but on a much larger scale. Wicked makes The Wicked Witch of the West appear to be not so wicked after all. Source for the award-winning musical of the same name, Gregory Maguire’s novel will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about The Wizard of Oz.
Into the Woods by james lapine
A creative weaving and retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and several other fairy tales, Into the Woods gives these stories a much darker tone, especially as Act II progresses. Though written for stage performance, a copy of the book is still sure to entertain.
Snow White, Blood Red by Ellen Datlow (& entire Adult Fairy Tales series)
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling edited a series of anthologies and novels, all retellings of classic tales, starting in the 1980s. Their work anchored the revival of adult fairy tales, giving the genre literary legitimacy. If you like the mythic arts, read it all. Read. It. All.