Book picks similar to
Beauty and the Beast by Nancy Willard


fantasy
fairy-tales
childrens
picture-books

King Stork


Howard Pyle - 1973
    The original edition won the 1973 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Illustration.

Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm


Randall Jarrell - 1972
    

Chicken Little


Steven Kellogg - 1985
    Steven Kellogg's hilarious retelling and irresistible illustrations bring fresh delight to this timeless classic of chain reaction panic.

Cinderella Skeleton


Robert D. San Souci - 2000
    But when Prince Charnel hosts his famous Halloween Ball, Cindy finally gets her chance to shine. With the help of a good witch, Cinderella Skeleton is transformed into the belle of the ball and steals the prince's heart. Then just as the sun peeks over the horizon, she must dash away! Will Prince Charnel ever find his true love again?Master storyteller Robert D. San Souci and award-winning illustrator David Catrow have dreamed up a hilarious fractured fairy tale about the most dreadful darling you've ever seen.

Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying!: The Story of Cinderella as Told by the Wicked Stepmother


Trisha Speed Shaskan - 2011
    Along with bright, bold illustrations, the bestselling OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY series gives young children a fresh perspective on familiar tales. Read others in this series by acclaimed author Trisha Speed Shaskan, including TRULY, WE BOTH LOVE BEAUTY DEARLY! and HONESTLY, RED RIDING HOOD WAS ROTTEN!

West of the Moon


Margi Preus - 2014
    After being separated from her sister and sold to a cruel goat farmer, Astri makes a daring escape. She quickly retrieves her little sister, and, armed with a troll treasure, a book of spells and curses, and a possibly magic hairbrush, they set off for America. With a mysterious companion in tow and the malevolent “goatman” in pursuit, the girls head over the Norwegian mountains, through field and forest, and in and out of folktales and dreams as they steadily make their way east of the sun and west of the moon.

The Girl Who Spun Gold


Virginia Hamilton - 2000
    A tiny creature comes to save her under the condition that she has three chances to guess his name right.West Indian

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig


Eugene Trivizas - 1993
    But the little wolves' increasingly sturdy dwellings are no match for the persistent porker, who has more up his sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying solution to the little wolves' housing crisis. Eugene Trivizas's hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury's enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary classic.

Peter and the Starcatchers


Dave Barry - 2004
    Best-selling authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have turned back the clock to reveal the wonderful story that precedes J. M. Barrie’s beloved Peter Pan. Peter and the Starcatchers is brimming with richly developed characters, from the scary but somehow familiar Black Stache and ferocious Mister Grin to the sweet but sophisticated Molly and fearless Peter. Page after page of riveting adventures take readers of all ages on a voyage from a filthy, crime-ridden port in old England across the turbulent sea. Aboard the Neverland is a trunk that hold the “greatest treasure on earth” —but is it gold, jewels, or something far more mysterious and dangerous? Roiling waves and raging storms; skullduggery and pirate treachery provide the backdrop for battles at sea. Bone-crushing breakers eventually land our characters on Mollusk Island—where the action really heats up. This impossible-to-put-down tale leads readers on an unforgettable journey—fraught with danger yet filled with mystical and magical moments.

Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China


Ai-Ling Louie - 1982
    "Executed with chromatic splendor--a unique combination of brilliance and restraint".--The Horn Book. Full-color illustrations.

The Restless Girls


Jessie Burton - 2018
    The king decides his daughters must be kept safe at all costs, and for the girls, those costs include their lessons, their possessions, and most importantly, their freedom. But the sisters, especially the eldest, Princess Frida, will not bend to this fate. She still has one possession her father cannot take: the power of her imagination. And so, with little but wits and ingenuity to rely on, Frida and her sisters begin their fight to be allowed to live on their own terms.The Restless Girls is a sparkling whirl of a fairy tale--one that doesn't need a prince to save the day, and instead is full of brave, resourceful, clever young women.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses: (Books about Princess Dancing, Unicorn Books for Girls and Kids)


Brigette Barrager - 2011
    Will this handsome suitor be able to break the spell and rescue the princesses?

Beauty and the Beast


Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont - 1756
    This is the best known version of the original story that inspired Walt Disney’s classic and has been retold countless times and adapted for screen, stage, prose, and television.

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine


Mark Twain - 2017
    In a hotel in Paris one evening in 1879, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. After the girls chose a picture from a magazine to get started, Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds. Later, Twain would jot down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished . . . until now. Plucked from the Mark Twain archive at the University of California at Berkeley, Twain’s notes now form the foundation of a fairy tale picked up over a century later. With only Twain’s fragmentary script and a story that stops partway as his guide, author Philip Stead has written a tale that imagines what might have been if Twain had fully realized this work: Johnny, forlorn and alone except for his pet chicken, meets a kind woman who gives him seeds that change his fortune, allowing him to speak with animals and sending him on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. In the face of a bullying tyrant king, Johnny and his animal friends come to understand that generosity, empathy, and quiet courage are gifts more precious in this world than power and gold. Illuminated by Erin Stead’s graceful, humorous, and achingly poignant artwork, this is a story that reaches through time and brings us a new book from America’s most legendary writer, envisioned by two of today’s most important names in children’s literature.

Snow White


Matt Phelan - 2016
    The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words "Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL." In a moody, cinematic new telling of a beloved fairy tale, extraordinary graphic novelist Matt Phelan captures the essence of classic film noir on the page—and draws a striking distinction between good and evil.