Fairy Tales

What are Fairy Tales?• Stories for children that

come from oral storytelling tradition

• Old stories that tell of man’s problems, fears and hopes

Elements of a Fairy Tale• Contains magic or

enchantment in characters, plot or settings

• Problem in the story solved

• May contain characters such as fairies, witches, elves, pixies, magicians, fairy godparents etc.

• Ending- “happily ever after”

• Good versus Evil (mean and good characters) good usually wins

• May teach a moral lesson

• Story setting• Begins with once

upon a time or Long, long ago

• 3’s or 7’s

Magical Characters

Magical Settings

Magic or Enchantment

Good versus Evil

Teach Lessons

Popular Fairy Tales• Sleeping Beauty• Cinderella• Rapunzel• Jack and the Beanstalk• Snow White• Beauty and the Beast• The Frog Prince• Red Riding Hood

• Hansel and Gretel• Rumpelstiltskin• Snow Queen• Thumbelina• The Emperor’s New Clothes• The Real Princess

An illustrated retelling of the classic tale about a boy named Jack who uses his quick wits to outsmart a giant and make a fortune for himself and his widowed mother.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.1

Point Value: 0.5

A retelling of a folktale in which a beautiful girl with long golden hair is kept imprisoned in a lonely tower by a sorceress. Includes a note that traces the Italian, French, and German origins of the story, and discusses the author's decision to mimic the style of Italian Renaissance art in his illustrations.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.6Point Value: 0.5

A strange little man helps the miller's daughter spin straw into gold for the king on the condition that she will give him her first-born child.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.0

Point Value: 0.5

A retelling of the well-known tale in which two children are left in the woods but find their way home despite an encounter with a wicked witch.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.3

Point Value: 0.5

Although she is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, a kind-hearted young woman manages to attend the palace ball with the help of her fairy godmother.

A mother saves her seven children from Heckedy Peg, a witch who has changed them into different kinds of food.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.2

Point Value: 0.5

Through her great capacity to love, a kind and beautiful maid releases a handsome prince from the spell which has made him an ugly beast.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 5.3

Point Value: 0.5

Rebuffed by the princess after retrieving her golden ball, a noble frog sets out to find a more suitable mate.

On her way to deliver a basket of food to her sick grandmother, Elisabeth encounters a sly wolf.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.4

Point Value: 0.5

The queen has a plan to help the prince find a real princess to marry.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 1.8

Point Value: 0.5

An illustrated retelling of the fairy tale in which a jealous queen attempts to kill her beautiful stepdaughter and is thwarted on every try.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 5.1

Point Value: 0.5

A beautiful and beloved princess, cursed by the one fairy who was not invited to her christening, pricks her finger on her sixteenth birthday and falls asleep for one hundred years.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 6.1

Point Value: 0.5

Fractured Fairy Tales When authors modernize or

change one or more of the elements of the story, the story is called a fractured

fairy tale.

Based on "Cinderella," this story is set in Texas, the fairy godmother is a cow, and the hero, named Bubba, is the stepson of a wicked rancher.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.8

Point Value: 0.5

A rhyming retelling of the story of a young woman who finds her prince at a Halloween ball despite the efforts of her wicked stepmother. The main characters are skeletons.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 5.2

Point Value: 0.5

Cindy Ellen loses one of her diamond spurs at the square dance in this wild western retelling of the classic Cinderella story.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 5.0

Point Value: 0.5

A Spanish American retelling of the familiar story of a kind girl who is mistreated by her jealous stepmother and stepsisters. In this version, the Virgin Mary replaces the traditional fairy godmother.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.6

Point Value: 0.5

Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.3

Point Value: 0.5

A Creole variant of the familiar Cinderella tale set in the Caribbean and narrated by the godmother who helps Cendrillon find true love.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.7

Point Value: 0.5

A young Chinese girl overcomes the wickedness of her stepsister and stepmother to become the bride of a prince.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 5.0

Point Value: 0.5

After the death of her mother and father, Adelita is badly mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters until she finds her own true love at a grand fiesta.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.3

Point Value: 0.5

Cinderella and Cinder Edna, who live next door to each other, each with a cruel stepmother and stepsisters, have different approaches to life. Although both end up with the princes of their dreams, one is a great deal happier than the other.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.5

Point Value: 0.5

A girl climbs to the top of a giant beanstalk, where she uses her quick wits to outsmart a giant and make her and her mother's fortune.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.6

Point Value: 0.5

After the frog turns into a prince, he and the Princess do not live happily ever after and the Prince decides to look for a witch to help him remedy the situation.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.2

Point Value: 0.5

A collection of nine familiar fractured tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Princess and the Pea, Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Ugly Duckling.

Accelerated Reader

Reading Level: 3.4

Point Value: 0.5

In this African American retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin," Lit'mahn spins thread into gold cloth for the king's new bride.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.3

Point Value: 0.5

In this Cajun version of "Little Red Riding Hood," the big bad gator is no match for a sharp young girl and her quick-thinking cat.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.9

Point Value: 0.5

In this Indonesian version of the Cinderella story, a girl named Damura escapes her cruel stepmother and stepsister and marries a handsome prince with the help of Grandmother Crocodile.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.4

Point Value: 0.5

The adventures of Little Pierre are based on the stories of Little Tom Thumb. A very tiny but clever boy outwits his older brothers, an ogre, an alligator, and a giant catfish to rescue a rich man's daughter in this Cajun version of a French fairy tale.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 4.0

Point Value: 0.5

This version of the familiar story in which a mistreated step-child finds happiness with the "man" of her dreams is set in the old-growth forest and features Bigfoot characters.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.3

Point Value: 0.5

With a "Hot diggety-dog!" and a wave of his white sombrero, cowboy Joe Cinders gets the girl in this Southwestern retelling of the Cinderella story.

Accelerated ReaderReading Level: 3.4

Point Value: 0.5