What do you think?
Rate this book
Snow White - A Modern Retelling
'Snow White - A modern retelling' changes the traditional fairy tale of Snow White into a modern, empowering narrative.
In a world where bravery is valued over beauty, and where princesses are protagonists rather than passive, this story combines many traditional aspects of Snow White with several new twists.
Published in December 2019, the book is available in English, German and as an audiobook.
In a world where bravery is valued over beauty, and where princesses are protagonists rather than passive, this story combines many traditional aspects of Snow White with several new twists.
Published in December 2019, the book is available in English, German and as an audiobook.
60 pages, Hardcover
Published December 10, 2019
2 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 13, 2020
This review was originally published at http://www.drttmk.com/books/snow-whit...
Beautiful book, needs a bit more work.
This is a very long book, and it's also incredibly wordy. It's got gorgeous illustrations. I love the idea behind it, but I think it could be better executed. In the first couple of pages, it's explained that the authors are sick of hearing stories about princesses where their most important attribute is that they're beautiful. So one night, reading to a daughter, daughters one of them changes the word "beautiful" into the word "brave" and this book was born. The idea behind it is terrific.
The book itself follows the story of the original tale of Snow White fairly closely. There's a wicked queen. She's jealous of Snow White. She has a magic mirror. Instead of asking it "Who's the prettiest," though, she asks it "Who's the bravest?" The problem with replacing a physical (although subjective) attribute with a personality trait is that with beauty, you can look at someone, without ever seeing them in any context, and see that they're beautiful. With bravery, you have to show it in action. Beauty is like a hair color: that's just part of their appearance. The queen shows very little evidence of being brave at all. It's just mentioned in like a passing that she "travelled alone from a distant land" and had "conquered her fears to start a new life in the kingdom." On the other hand, Snow White's claims to bravery seem to be mostly going on random adventures, climbing trees, and giving speeches. Most of the time when you see Snow White in action over the course of the story, what she's doing is being smart or clever.
One thing the authors say frustrated them was how princesses always need rescuing, and they did a good job there in one case. In the traditional story, the queen sends her huntsman after Snow White to kill her, and the huntsman feels sorry for her and tells her to run away instead. In this version, he ties her to a tree and is seriously going to kill her despite feeling terrible about it. She asks him to sing a song that he used to sing to her when they went adventuring, and he does, though he can't look at her. While he's singing, she escapes on her own. That's clever, and quick thinking. I wouldn't call it brave, though. Escaping from almost certain death isn't brave. It would have actually been brave if she had faced him down.
The book describes her as brave for running through the magic forest, but it's only moderately scary for some nebulous reason. There's no active threat.
Also, I understand the change of Snow White from "having skin as white as snow" like the original. That is appearance-based, and also racially limited. But they stick with the part of the written tale where her mother wishes to have a child with "blue eyes" and "black hair" and "red lips". Which is absolutely appearance-based. And, bafflingly, they also stick with the name "Snow White," justifying it by naming her after the fact that there's snow outside when she's born. Erm, okay. Why not justify it some other way? Maybe it's a nickname because she always dresses in white, like Little Red Riding Hood? Or maybe because she was once dressed in white in the winter, and someone mistook her for snow? But talking about her appearance before she was born kind of sends a mixed message about beauty not being important.
This book has some good things going for it, and as I said, I like the idea. I like some of the ways things are executed. I really like how Snow White saves herself (except it takes a similar tack to the Grimm version of Snow White-- this prince trips over her coffin like a klutz so she hacks up the apple, coming back to life in a magical coincidence). It's great that the prince, upon discovering her glass coffin, asks the dwarves to tell him about her and the story behind the coffin, instead of just magically falling in love with a corpse. But there's got to be some kind of way to change the story so she's somehow active in the eat-the-apple-die-come-back sequence. It's like one of the many versions of Sleeping Beauty, where the princess isn't brought back by "True Love's Kiss" but by the splinter of the spindle being removed from her finger. Aside from the squick involved in the details of that (you'll know what I mean if you've heard it), Sleeping Beauty comes back to life through random chance.
Anyway, Snow White wakes up, and the prince is like, 'Come on, let's go fight the Evil Queen.' And she's like, 'Nah, her jealousy is her own deal and she's an unpleasant person and she's just gonna have to live with that.' Really? Really? Cause she's pretty fricking powerful. She's got all kinds of magic stuff, and she has a specific beef with you. The reader knows the magic mirror has shattered, and somehow the queen has lost all her powers, but Snow White doesn't know any of that. (As a side note, if the queen had used the "Magic Mirror in my hand/Who's the bravest in the land" version, since Snow White leaves the area, she'd probably be safe, but the queen wouldn't have any backlash.) The point is, Snow White is still very much in danger as far as she knows, and instead heads off to go on a world tour. Doesn't seem like a very brave thing to do, unless you consider "ignoring danger" to be the same thing as bravery.
The dwarves, of course, are very PC. It's not uncommon to find versions of the story where all the dwarves are female, for example. In this case, they're mixed gender and all from different countries and cultures. Snow White teaches them to read (again, a positive action, a smart action, but not a brave one). So at the end, she wants to go "discover the seven corners of the world." And she wants to take the prince with her, as a friend. YES. Thank you, authors, for not having a "love at first sight" ending.
So the book has its problems, and it needs more polish. But it's got a lot of great stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of what these guys come up with. It looks like it's going to be a series. And if they learn what they can from their constructive criticism, they could make something amazing. Bravery is more complex than beauty, and kudos to them for trying to go for it. With a little more work, they could pull it off.
Message: Be brave.
Beautiful book, needs a bit more work.
This is a very long book, and it's also incredibly wordy. It's got gorgeous illustrations. I love the idea behind it, but I think it could be better executed. In the first couple of pages, it's explained that the authors are sick of hearing stories about princesses where their most important attribute is that they're beautiful. So one night, reading to a daughter, daughters one of them changes the word "beautiful" into the word "brave" and this book was born. The idea behind it is terrific.
The book itself follows the story of the original tale of Snow White fairly closely. There's a wicked queen. She's jealous of Snow White. She has a magic mirror. Instead of asking it "Who's the prettiest," though, she asks it "Who's the bravest?" The problem with replacing a physical (although subjective) attribute with a personality trait is that with beauty, you can look at someone, without ever seeing them in any context, and see that they're beautiful. With bravery, you have to show it in action. Beauty is like a hair color: that's just part of their appearance. The queen shows very little evidence of being brave at all. It's just mentioned in like a passing that she "travelled alone from a distant land" and had "conquered her fears to start a new life in the kingdom." On the other hand, Snow White's claims to bravery seem to be mostly going on random adventures, climbing trees, and giving speeches. Most of the time when you see Snow White in action over the course of the story, what she's doing is being smart or clever.
One thing the authors say frustrated them was how princesses always need rescuing, and they did a good job there in one case. In the traditional story, the queen sends her huntsman after Snow White to kill her, and the huntsman feels sorry for her and tells her to run away instead. In this version, he ties her to a tree and is seriously going to kill her despite feeling terrible about it. She asks him to sing a song that he used to sing to her when they went adventuring, and he does, though he can't look at her. While he's singing, she escapes on her own. That's clever, and quick thinking. I wouldn't call it brave, though. Escaping from almost certain death isn't brave. It would have actually been brave if she had faced him down.
The book describes her as brave for running through the magic forest, but it's only moderately scary for some nebulous reason. There's no active threat.
Also, I understand the change of Snow White from "having skin as white as snow" like the original. That is appearance-based, and also racially limited. But they stick with the part of the written tale where her mother wishes to have a child with "blue eyes" and "black hair" and "red lips". Which is absolutely appearance-based. And, bafflingly, they also stick with the name "Snow White," justifying it by naming her after the fact that there's snow outside when she's born. Erm, okay. Why not justify it some other way? Maybe it's a nickname because she always dresses in white, like Little Red Riding Hood? Or maybe because she was once dressed in white in the winter, and someone mistook her for snow? But talking about her appearance before she was born kind of sends a mixed message about beauty not being important.
This book has some good things going for it, and as I said, I like the idea. I like some of the ways things are executed. I really like how Snow White saves herself (except it takes a similar tack to the Grimm version of Snow White-- this prince trips over her coffin like a klutz so she hacks up the apple, coming back to life in a magical coincidence). It's great that the prince, upon discovering her glass coffin, asks the dwarves to tell him about her and the story behind the coffin, instead of just magically falling in love with a corpse. But there's got to be some kind of way to change the story so she's somehow active in the eat-the-apple-die-come-back sequence. It's like one of the many versions of Sleeping Beauty, where the princess isn't brought back by "True Love's Kiss" but by the splinter of the spindle being removed from her finger. Aside from the squick involved in the details of that (you'll know what I mean if you've heard it), Sleeping Beauty comes back to life through random chance.
Anyway, Snow White wakes up, and the prince is like, 'Come on, let's go fight the Evil Queen.' And she's like, 'Nah, her jealousy is her own deal and she's an unpleasant person and she's just gonna have to live with that.' Really? Really? Cause she's pretty fricking powerful. She's got all kinds of magic stuff, and she has a specific beef with you. The reader knows the magic mirror has shattered, and somehow the queen has lost all her powers, but Snow White doesn't know any of that. (As a side note, if the queen had used the "Magic Mirror in my hand/Who's the bravest in the land" version, since Snow White leaves the area, she'd probably be safe, but the queen wouldn't have any backlash.) The point is, Snow White is still very much in danger as far as she knows, and instead heads off to go on a world tour. Doesn't seem like a very brave thing to do, unless you consider "ignoring danger" to be the same thing as bravery.
The dwarves, of course, are very PC. It's not uncommon to find versions of the story where all the dwarves are female, for example. In this case, they're mixed gender and all from different countries and cultures. Snow White teaches them to read (again, a positive action, a smart action, but not a brave one). So at the end, she wants to go "discover the seven corners of the world." And she wants to take the prince with her, as a friend. YES. Thank you, authors, for not having a "love at first sight" ending.
So the book has its problems, and it needs more polish. But it's got a lot of great stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of what these guys come up with. It looks like it's going to be a series. And if they learn what they can from their constructive criticism, they could make something amazing. Bravery is more complex than beauty, and kudos to them for trying to go for it. With a little more work, they could pull it off.
Message: Be brave.
November 6, 2021
Lovely retelling of Snow White. Instead of the most beautiful, she is the most courageous. Changing that word doesn't work 100% but it's still a good alternative. The illustrations are beautiful and I love that there is a wide range of skin colors and cultures here (but one thing: why is the Japanese dwarf red headed???). I would love to either read the next adventures of Snow White travelling the world, or stories about the seven dwarfs.
December 29, 2019
A father reading to his young daughter was motivated to rewrite Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with new illustrations. He rewrote with a purpose. He changed Snow White into a brave girl, and the dwarfs become female and male from many lands and cultures. The text and the bountiful illustrations by Claudia Piras are delightful.
July 11, 2020
Loved the book! The only thing for me not working out is keeping the name “snow white” and having this new reference - which is not plausible to me. Don’t get me wrong, I am totally fine with changing her skin colour (although I also love the original), but she could have had a white mole or birthmark for example - which could have stand for the uniqueness of a snow flake, for instance.
October 9, 2023
I think this retelling is quite beautiful. I loved the pictures and that you got to know more about the characters through those pictures, and I also enjoyed the story a lot. It was a nice change from beautiful to brave, and I think it worked well.
Not all changes worked this great in my opinion, there were some things that just seemed a little off while reading, and where it felt like it was not quite so smooth, or I wondered why it had to be like that (for example, I think the way Snow White aged was quite ... I don't know about that, and the way the queen was handled at the end also felt a little off, and also it felt like some of the stuff wouldn't be said by a person that age), but most of the story worked great, and I liked the changes, and I liked the ending, and all in all this really made me happy, and I don't see any reason to cling to the original, because I felt like this one was just as good (and better in the parts where it did work well for me).
Not all changes worked this great in my opinion, there were some things that just seemed a little off while reading, and where it felt like it was not quite so smooth, or I wondered why it had to be like that (for example, I think the way Snow White aged was quite ... I don't know about that, and the way the queen was handled at the end also felt a little off, and also it felt like some of the stuff wouldn't be said by a person that age), but most of the story worked great, and I liked the changes, and I liked the ending, and all in all this really made me happy, and I don't see any reason to cling to the original, because I felt like this one was just as good (and better in the parts where it did work well for me).
August 17, 2020
I *really* liked this story.
I liked that the king raised Snow White as a single parent; I liked that Snow White was free to explore and experiment; I liked that the jealousy was about bravery and not beauty; I liked that the version of this story has no prince's kiss, but the apple bit falls out of Snow White's mouth; I liked that the dwarves are race and gender mixed; I liked that in the end the prince and Snow White each find a friend to travel the world with.
When trying to rewrite traditional stories in a more "feminist" way, it's easy to make the mistake of just reversing the roles. So you'd have, for example, Snow White rescuing the Prince. What I really appreciate in this story is the balance: no one is saving anybody: they each are enough, and they go on together.
I liked that the king raised Snow White as a single parent; I liked that Snow White was free to explore and experiment; I liked that the jealousy was about bravery and not beauty; I liked that the version of this story has no prince's kiss, but the apple bit falls out of Snow White's mouth; I liked that the dwarves are race and gender mixed; I liked that in the end the prince and Snow White each find a friend to travel the world with.
When trying to rewrite traditional stories in a more "feminist" way, it's easy to make the mistake of just reversing the roles. So you'd have, for example, Snow White rescuing the Prince. What I really appreciate in this story is the balance: no one is saving anybody: they each are enough, and they go on together.
October 24, 2021
"Eines Abends, vor nicht allzu langer Zeit, in einer Stadt, von der du sicher schon einmal gehört hast und in der du eventuell schon einmal warst, lag ein Vater, der nicht mehr ganz so jung war und schon nicht mehr so viele Haare auf dem Kopf hatte, mit seiner kleinen Tochter im Bett und las ihr eine Gutenachtgeschichte vor. Als er da so lag und seine Kleine im Arm hielt, bemerkte er etwas Seltsames. Es schien, als müssten Prinzessinnen in den Märchen immer gerettet werden und als zeichneten sie sich vor allem durch ihr Aussehen und ihre Schönheit aus.
Das fand er überhaupt nicht gut. Seine Tochter sollte nicht denken, dass es nur darauf im Leben ankäme. Er fing also an, beim Lesen einige Wörter durch andere zu ersetzen. So wurde aus einer schönen Prinzessin plötzlich eine mutige Prinzessin - und das Funkeln in den Augen seiner Tochter gab ihm recht!"
Das o.g. Zitat ist aus dem Vorwort dieser Schneewittchen-Version, die ich vom erwähnten Vater auf dem Wochenmarkt in unserem Kiez gekauft habe. Auch, wenn es natürlich wünschenswert wäre, wenn Männer nicht erst durch ihre Töchter darauf aufmerksam werden, wie diskriminierend unsere (Märchen-) Kultur ist, ist das Endprodukt wirklich schön und vor allem kindgerecht geworden. Wie beschrieben, geht es an keiner Stelle um Schönheit - und erst recht nicht um westliche Schönheitsideale - sondern um Mut. Die sieben Zwerge sind nicht alles weiße Männer, sondern Frauen und Männer aus aller Welt. Und was besonders schön ist: am Ende gibt es keine romantische Liebe zwischen Schneewittchen und dem Prinzen, sondern Freundschaft - was für Kinder doch viel wichtiger und erfahrbarer ist.
Letztendlich bieten Märchen, auch dieses, noch viel Potential, noch diverser zu werden und noch mehr auf Empowerment zu setzen, aber immerhin sehe ich hier einen guten, für Kinder verständlichen, Anfang.
Das fand er überhaupt nicht gut. Seine Tochter sollte nicht denken, dass es nur darauf im Leben ankäme. Er fing also an, beim Lesen einige Wörter durch andere zu ersetzen. So wurde aus einer schönen Prinzessin plötzlich eine mutige Prinzessin - und das Funkeln in den Augen seiner Tochter gab ihm recht!"
Das o.g. Zitat ist aus dem Vorwort dieser Schneewittchen-Version, die ich vom erwähnten Vater auf dem Wochenmarkt in unserem Kiez gekauft habe. Auch, wenn es natürlich wünschenswert wäre, wenn Männer nicht erst durch ihre Töchter darauf aufmerksam werden, wie diskriminierend unsere (Märchen-) Kultur ist, ist das Endprodukt wirklich schön und vor allem kindgerecht geworden. Wie beschrieben, geht es an keiner Stelle um Schönheit - und erst recht nicht um westliche Schönheitsideale - sondern um Mut. Die sieben Zwerge sind nicht alles weiße Männer, sondern Frauen und Männer aus aller Welt. Und was besonders schön ist: am Ende gibt es keine romantische Liebe zwischen Schneewittchen und dem Prinzen, sondern Freundschaft - was für Kinder doch viel wichtiger und erfahrbarer ist.
Letztendlich bieten Märchen, auch dieses, noch viel Potential, noch diverser zu werden und noch mehr auf Empowerment zu setzen, aber immerhin sehe ich hier einen guten, für Kinder verständlichen, Anfang.
December 16, 2020
My friend me lent me this book, which was really fast to read, but seriously enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews