Interrogating and Reimagining Fairy Tales

Sophie Anderson is a renowned children’s author whose writing is inspired by folk and fairy stories, especially the Slavic stories told by her Eastern European grandmother. Her bestselling novels have won multiple prestigious awards and been translated into twenty-five languages. The House with Chicken Legs, a reimagining of the Baba Yaga tale, has gone on to become a modern classic, taught in schools and adapted for the stage by Les Enfants Terrible. Her latest book, A Year of Fairy Tales, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, fulfils Sophie’s long-held dream of creating a fairy-tale gift book in honour of her grandmother.

I am honoured that I was asked to host this Blog and extend my thanks to Sophie for taking the time to write it and share her thoughts with us as well as to Fritha Lindqvist, Head of Publicity at Usborne, for suggesting it. Now, over to Sophie...

Some of my earliest and most treasured memories are of my grandmother telling me Slavic fairy tales whilst playing a dramatic soundtrack to them on her piano. I would be captivated by the beautiful music and language, the enchanting and eerie atmosphere, the magic and wonder, the balance of light and dark, the larger-than-life characters and the way that these tales explored big ideas about life, love and death.

I adored my grandmother’s stories, yet even at a young age I felt that there were many elements that were wrong somehow. At first, I did not have the words to articulate my thoughts, but as I grew older, I began to understand that it was the stereotypes and antiquated ideas running through many of the stories that unsettled me. Old women and stepmothers were ugly and evil. Young female characters were helpless, doomed to a life of servitude unless they could attract a handsome prince to rescue them. Falling in love happened at first sight, and marriage to a royal was the ultimate happily ever after. These ideas did not reflect what I saw in the real world, nor did I want them to be true.

Occasionally, to great excitement, I would be told a different kind of fairy tale. In Vasilisa the Priest’s Daughter, the young heroine is strong, independent and uses her wits to escape the advances of a king, so that she can ride off into the sunset, alone and content. And in Gulnara the Tartar Warrior, a young girl takes her father’s place as a soldier, to save him, then becomes a great leader and frees her people from an evil tyrant. Top of Form

Fairy tales like these seemed few and far between when I was young, but in the rare and wonderful moments I heard them I knew they touched on an important truth: that stereotypes need to be challenged.

Thankfully, when children are introduced to fairy tales today, they are far more likely to be encouraged, and given the language, to interrogate them. Fairy tales are on the National Curriculum in Key Stages One and Two, where pupils study features and structures of the stories, and often explore and question tropes, stereotypes and outdated ideas. Modern retellings and reimagining’s of fairy tales that challenge and subvert these ideas are usually shared with pupils too, and in this way young people begin to grasp how values and sensibilities change over time, and how stories can reflect this.

Fairy tales have always been told, retold and reimagined to suit different audiences, cultures and times, so contemporary retellings in particular are much more likely to represent the world today. In writing A Year of Fairy Tales, I chose to become a part of this ongoing tradition and reimagine twelve beautiful old tales, to make them feel fresh, exciting and relevant for today’s readers.

All of my reimagining’s aim to remove any harmful stereotypes and old-fashioned ideas in earlier versions of the tales. I also centre child characters and replace themes of romantic love with those of platonic love and friendship. And by giving a wide range of children and adults different roles in the tales, I aim to break down assumptions and ensure the message that anyone can be a hero shines through. Finally, there are no marriages as happily-ever-afters. Instead, all the young heroes of the stories find the resolutions they need through courage, kindness, wisdom, and by collaborating with others.

There is so much to be gained by sharing fairy tales with children. These stories are filled with magic and wonder and can offer deep insights to young people looking for guidance about the world and how to survive and thrive in it, along with a safe space to explore difficult and dark ideas. Where stereotypes are present, they can be identified and questioned, and used as a starting point to discuss the historical and cultural context of the tale, and how and why times have changed.

Sharing carefully created fairy tale reimagining’s with young people adds another glorious layer to the many benefits of these stories. By challenging older narratives and reflecting more honestly the world today we share a vital and empowering message: that we can change and shape the stories we tell, and in doing so we change and shape ourselves, society and the world. And that, I believe, is the most perfect happily ever after.

A Year of Fairy Tales by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, is out now in hardback.

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