Mouse Bird Snake Wolf


David Almond - 2013
    They have built mountains, forests, and seas and filled the world with animals, people, and unnamed beasts. Now their days are fat with long naps in the clouds, mutual admiration, and tea and cake. But their world has gaps in it filled with emptiness, gaps that intrigue Harry, Sue, and little Ben until they begin to see what might fill them. One by one the children conjure, from twigs and leaves and stones, a mousy thing, a chirpy thing, and a twisty legless thing. But as the children’s ideas grow bolder, the power of their visions proves greater and more dangerous than they, or the gods, could ever have imagined. Is it possible to unmake what’s been made?

Goodnight Darth Vader


Jeffrey Brown - 2014
    Darth Vader's parenting skills are tested as young Luke and Leia won't go to sleep. Can he calm them by reading a story featuring, Han Solo, Yoda, Boba Fett, and others as they each settle down for the night?

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude


Kevin O'Malley - 2005
    Can they agree on who will live happily ever after? With a cool motorcycle dude and a beautiful princess the possibilities are endless! "Hilarious book, perfect for reading aloud." -Barnes & NobleOnce upon a time there was ... a princess who loved all her beautiful ponies, a cool muscle dude who rode an awesome motorcycle. But a giant came and started stealing them! The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony. And he took the princess's gold thread for payment The end!Wait a minute! That's not how it ends!Oh no?Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who had to tell a fairy tale to the class, but they couldn't agree on the story. Will everyone live happily ever after?

The King's Equal


Katherine Paterson - 1992
    A search throughout the kingdom appears to be fruitless until the lovely Rosamund appears at the palace. She is intelligent and wealthy, as well as beautiful — certainly his equal, Raphael thinks. But what does the mysterious Rosamund think?

Matchless


Gregory Maguire - 2009
    In "Matchless", Maguire adds a different dimension to the story, intertwining the match girl's tale with that of a young boy, Frederik, whose own yearnings are the catalyst for a better future for himself and his family. Maguire uses his storytelling magic to rekindle Andersen's original intentions, and to suggest transcendence, the permanence of spirit, and the continuity that links the living and the dead.

Into the Forest


Anthony Browne - 2004
    A storm is breaking, lightning flashing across the sky. In the morning Dad is gone and Mum doesn't seem to know when he'll be back. The next day Mum asks her son to take a cake to his sick grandma. Don't go into the forest, she warns. Go the long way round! Ages 6+.

Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz


Eric Shanower - 2009
    When Kansas farm girl Dorothy flies away to the magical Land of Oz, she fatally flattens a wicked witch, liberates a living scarecrow and is hailed by the Munchkin people as a great sorceress but all she really wants to know is: how does she get home?

Journey


Aaron Becker - 2013
    Red marker in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon, and a flying carpet that carry her on a spectacular journey toward an uncertain destiny. When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous courage and kindness can set her free. Can it also lead her home and to her heart’s desire? With supple line, luminous color, and nimble flights of fancy, author-illustrator Aaron Becker launches an ordinary child on an extraordinary journey toward her greatest and most exciting adventure of all.

Little Red's Riding 'Hood


Peter Stein - 2015
    Why, Granny, what big wheels you have!Why, Granny, what big headlights you have!Why, Granny, what a big hood you have!From the sparkplug, creative minds of Peter Stein and Chris Gall comes a full-throttle version of the classic LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD tale that will have everyone revving for more.

Shrek!


William Steig - 1990
    Shrek, a horrid little ogre, goes out into the world to find adventure and along the way encounters a witch, a knight in armor, a dragon, and, finally, a hideous princess, who's even uglier than he is!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret


Brian Selznick - 2007
    But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

The Tomten


Astrid Lindgren - 1960
    No one knows when he came to the farm, no one has ever seen him, but everyone knows it is the troll Tomten who walks about the lonely old farmhouse on a winter's night, talking to all the animals and reminding them of the promise of Spring.Adapted by Astrid Lindgren from a poem by Viktor Rydberg

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse


Charlie Mackesy - 2019
    The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared millions of times online - perhaps you've seen them? They've also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Perhaps you saw the boy and mole on the Comic Relief T-shirt, Love Wins?Here, you will find them together in this book of Charlie's most-loved drawings, adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.

Of Giants and Ice


Shelby Bach - 2012
    So when she begins a new after-school program and no one knows who her family is, Rory realizes something is different. After she ends up fighting a fire-breathing dragon on her first day, she realizes the situation is more unusual than she could have imagined. It turns out the only fame that matters at Ever After School is the kind of fame earned from stories Rory thought were fictional. But as Rory soon learns, fairy tales are very real—and she is destined to star in one of her own.This first installment of The Ever Afters series reimagines classic fairy tale characters in a modern context, merging familiar fantasy with the everyday realities of middle-grade existence.

A Tale Dark & Grimm


Adam Gidwitz - 2010
    As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches. Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.