Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales

by Gregory Maguire, Chris L. Demarest (Illustrator)

Once upon a time . . . nothing was as it seemed! What if Sleeping Beauty were actually a frog princess, doomed to be Weeping Beauty forever? What if the Three Chickens had to outwit Goldifox ? What if Cinder-Elephant lost her glass plate slipper? Then you'd have this hilarious collection of twisted fairy tales from the master of the absurd, Gregory Maguire!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Childrens, Humor, Audiobook

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Gregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England (a non-profit educational charity).

Maguire has served as artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Hambidge Center. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Beverly Kennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the version of Rumplestiltskin in this book. It was an altered version in which the miller's daughter is a sheep, named Beauty, who wants to be an actress. She is asked to spin gold in order for the king stag to make money to produce movies. Rumpelstiltskin appears as a snake and although he can't spin gold from straw, he can use some of her fleece. She agrees in order to star in the movie herself. Rumplestiltskin also falls in love with her, but she doesn't return his feelings. When her beautifully gold fleece has all been sheared, the king has no use for her. Beauty returns to her life, marrys a wild boar, has children and leads a happy quiet life until the king comes back for more money. By this time her fleece has grown back, but it is not the same pretty color. She leaves her family anyway, in hopes of returning to the movies and becoming a star. I won't give all the details of the ending except to say that it has a "Beauty and the Beast" feeling to it, and it ends happily for both Beauty and Rumplestiltskin.

This version would not be a good choice to use with children under grade 5. It is written with a sarcastic feel and references many other stories, therefore it may be confusing for younger children. ther would need to be too many explanations for children who had not experienced the stories referenced. It was very funny,though!

I also read the Snow White version, called So What and the Seven Giraffes. It had the same sarcastic feel.

[Christine Yates · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not like this writing.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was OK but I think my grandchildren would enjoy listening to this. I think my son-in-law would enjoy reading it to my grandchildren.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 8 parodies of well-known fairy tales were quirky and funny.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version. While hearing different voices for each character was entertaining, I missed having pictures to accompany the story. I had a difficult time following the story just by listening to it.

[Jess Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this as a book on tape for a long run and recommended it to a really homey looking burb housewife at the dog park with her two kids as a good family road trip listen. The author translates the same grisly undertones of classic fairy tales into the survival of the fittest setting of the animal world and the result is a frank and comical picture of anthropomorphized creatures. If hansel and gretel were a hamster and gerbil respectively they might actually consider eating each other if the hunger pangs are strong enough. If Brian Jacques were a mean girl, the resultant dysfunctional "redwall: the real world" would be this book. This is admittedly a children's book, but in the way that "up" is a children's movie: relevant for all ages. It may not be as mature as wicked, but who cares? It's fun as hell. And for the ones who didn't pick up on the fact that Norma Jean changed to beauty was a Marilyn reference, I say, "lady (or broad or dame), you're missing out."

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have really liked all of the adult Gregory Maguire books that retell childhood fairy tales that I have read. I was really looking forward to this book as another witty retelling of common takes, albeit from a children's perspective. I found myself completely unengrossed in this book. The short tales within it took me over a year to get through, and I felt like I was only reading them more just to finish, than to really enjoy them. Maybe if you have a bright kid who already knows these stories, they would find humor in Maguire's retelling, but I sure wouldn't recommend it for anyone older than that.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not think there is much that Gregory Maguire can do wrong when he puts pen to paper. (Yes I have forgiven him for Lost). I really like it when he lets loose to write for children. Leaping beauty is a whole new take on fairy tales and fables. He takes stories you think you know and turns them on their head, or removes the humans in favor of animals. They are fantastic. Read them, listen to them, either way, guaranteed family fun.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of eight fairy tales that Maguire has retold with animal characters. The stories include Rumplesnakeskin, Goldiefox and the Three Chickens, Hamster and Gerbil, etc.

It was ok. Like with most short stories, if/when my mind wanders, the story is too short to really be able to catch up (well) with what I’ve missed, but with these, it helps that I know the stories already. It’s a quick read. Maybe kids would enjoy it a bit more.

[Jeremy LaLonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute. I liked it for the most part - but given that it feels like it's pretty kid-friendly fodder it feels a bit over-the-heads for most kids - but a little too toned down for a pure adult audience. So, as such, I'm not entirely sure who this book is intended for. That said, if you like how Maguire does retelling of famous stories, this one is sure to put a smile on your face. I liked it - didn't love it.

[Paula Hebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read gregory maguire's adult books, but I was intrigued when I found out he also wrote childrens books, and decided to investigate. leaping beauty is priceless, filled with his variations on the standard fairy tale, and just hysterical in its whimsey. if you have children in your life, make sure this is in their personal library. it's a treasure.

[Jason Bilili · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book leaping Beauty by Gregory Maguire is a group of eight fairytales that he has retold with animals as the characters. The stories are as follows leaping beauty, Goldiefox and the Three chickens, Hamster and Gerbil, so What and he Seven Giraffes, Littles Red Robin Hood, The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus, Cinder-Elaphant, and Rumplesnakeskin. I personally think the book is pretty good. The book is short so it wont take you very long to finish and they are pretty short stories. The stories are funny as well so they arent boring to sit there and read stories that are boring. In one of the short stories Sleeping Beauty becomes a frog with the expectation of a dancing career. In one of the other stories you get to meet a gorilla queen and a bad walrus. Magurie has a great way of telling these short little stories he has a vivid imagination and thats what makes these short little stories funny and interesting. Maguire took some of the well known/loved fairy tales and rewrote them in little funny short stories which is what I like, for example; sleeping beauty became leaping beauty, the three little pigs became the three little penguins and the big bad walrus. I like this book alot its a short story book thats funny and expresses the short stories in great ways.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm generally a Maguire fan. So I decided to pick this up to see if it would be good for my 9 year old son. He is fixed on the idea that he hates fantasy, and as such, has shut down my attempts to read him Narnia, Harry Potter, Redwall, and anything containing dragons of any kind. Naturally, I'm heartbroken and worried that he may lose his soul (I'm kidding about the soul part, but not about the heartbroken part—how can he hate so many books I love?!? I must be failing as a parent ... ).

I don't know if he'll like it, but I'm hopeful. Maguire is funny, and the humor is based on puns and puzzles, and that's right up my son's alley. Hopefully enough so that he'll overlook the bits of magic that seep in here and there and focus on the charming talking animals and the slightly ironic distance held by the narrating voice throughout the book—he likes bits of slight ironic distance here and there, so there's hope!

[Mama K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did a quick search for "books with the word 'leap' in the title" for a reading challenge I'm doing. this came up. I love most of Maguire's other books and I'm a sucker for fractured fairy tales, so this was the ticket for sure! I loved most of it, though a couple were just silly and stretched a bit too far. The book claims to be aimed at an ages 8-12 audience, and I'm sure that age group would find parts of it really funny. However, much of the humor in it is still a bit above that age group--i.e., parents would need to explain A LOT of things, like 'hot toddies,' making someone wear concrete boots, etc.--so, like many television cartoons, it seems truly to be aimed at adults who possess twisted senses of humor (which is probably why I loved it). So, I believe ages 8-12 is pushing the envelope a bit. However, the adolescents I teach would eat this up!

[Chiara Whooley]

In this collection of short stories, Gregory Maguire rewrites classic fairy tales with goofy animal characters and fractures them up so that they are more palatable to young readers. In the titular short story, "Leaping Beauty," Sleeping Beauty becomes a frog with the prospect of a dancing career in an unusual way. In other stories, the reader meets a gorilla queen and a very bad walrus among other creatures. This collection of short stories would be great for elementary students to compare to the classics to understand how changes in characters and plot can affect the overall impression of a story. Additionally, students can use critical literacy lenses to question the messages of the texts.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this sounded silly -- and it was. I've read "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire and this has the same irreverence, the same sense of humor. It's a goofy retelling of various classic fairy tale stories, usually involving animals as the characters. I have to say, to my surprise I laughed at every single story.

I originally chose this book because the 2024 PopSugar reading challenge has a prompt for a book with the word "leap" in the title. There aren't a lot of options out there, and this sounded fun. I'm glad I gave it a try. The illustrations are cute, too.

[Jennibritt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book for a reading challenge. It was quick and I had been reading other retellings. If you are considering reading this book, I would say that it is definitely
More of a children’s book-except I don’t know if I would let children read it. In this case, stick to the original fairy tales. I thought it would fun hearing them as an animal tale but it didn’t lend anything interesting to the story.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The humor in these fracture fairy-tales (mostly) hit the sweet spot. I enjoyed all of the entries in this collection although some were bigger hits than others. Stand out stories included The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus (no huffing or puffing, but he was good at bluffing), Goldifox and the Three Chickens, and the titular Leaping Beauty. Several times I snorted aloud at the word play and shook my head at the ways that the author twisted the originals.

[Mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as it was meant to be, this is a quick, silly little book, but I was really looking for something of that description when I picked it up, so it was perfect. Gregory Maguire has a vivid imagination and a wonderful way of telling a story. The stories are cute and clever and the wit in the prose is excellent.

[Melmo2610 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute and fun collection of classic fairy tales. Gregory took some of the most loved tales and rewove them in hilarious stories. From Sleeping Beauty which became Leaping Beauty, to The 3 Little Pigs which became the 3 Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus, this book was a ton of fun to read. Definitely a fun light read.

[Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny retellings of eight popular fairy tales. These are modernized and feature anthropomorphised animals as all of the characters.

Included are: Leeping Beauty, Hamster and Gerbil, Goldifox and the Three Chickens, So What and the Seven Giraffes, Little Red Robin Hood, The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus, Cinder-Elephant, and Rumplesnakeskin.

[Maria Zivalich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I didn't realize when I was first began reading it, it's actually a children's book. It is so clever & funny. I laughed out loud more then once. I needed a fun entertaining story. Each chapter is a twist to the original fairy tales; only with animals. I highly recommend this book! :)

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of puns, some clever, some monotonous (but my age determines I'm an adult.) I appreciate that this book encourages kids to be clever and think outside the traditional box. I think this could serve as an introduction to creative writing projects for youth as well as comparison of texts, old verses retelling. Worthwhile.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

before you get too critical, remember this book is for children. "wicked" and other maguire books were intended for adults -- so, no comparisons.
I believe the tween audience for whom these stories are intended will giggle at the silly rhymes and puns and be inspired to write their own versions of well-known tales.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the different takes on the familiar fairy tales and this definitely had some different versions! Overall an quick enjoyable read with some of the tales standing out. I especially enjoyed The Three Little Penguins (the first penguin builds his house of straw in the Arctic!)and Cinder- Elephant.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will return with the Challenges and Categories this belongs to later.

Well written and beautifully put together. Maguire made the stories that are well known come together in a new way for a new generation. These are a little darker than Disney, but not near as dark as the Brothers Grimm.

Animals take the place of the humans and the scenarios are changed just enough to make it work.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a SUPER quick read - like basically did it in two sittings - with short fairy tales that were easy to get through. They're the fairy tales we all know, but with animal characters and unique Maguire elements woven throughout.

*I read this as part of the 2024 Popsugar Reading Challenge - "A book with the word 'leap' in the title"

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maguire is pretty snarky and sarcastic in this book and it made me laugh out loud a few times. I'm wondering why we let our kids routinely listen to this at bedtime and naptime. It's silly and funny, but it was probably a little over their heads sometimes.

[Kayla Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed some of the takes given to traditional fairytales. I appreciated the humor and absurdity but would not necessarily read it to younger ones who don't have the background in Grimm's or cultural fairy tales. Some were nastier than needed for my tastes but still...

[Enci Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is marketed for kids age 8-12 but it really should be for teens or adults. The references, the dialogue, the puns & jokes are definitely NOT for kids! Adults should read it first from the first page to the lats before giving this book to their kids.