Once upon a Fairy Tale: Four Favorite Stories

by Starbright Foundation

A colorful collection of four popular nursery tales is retold by more than twenty celebrity authors and illustrators and includes a CD of the famous celebrities--such as Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Kline, Whoopi Goldberg, and Hugh Grant--performing their favorite tales. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Retellings

80 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2001

Reviews

[Aleks Veselovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique way quick read treat for upper elementary aged kids and adults plus everyone in between. A creative version of “pass the story”’with a different illustrator and celebrity author for every part, resulting in 21 fantastic illustrations and stories in all. The end includes bios for all the writes and illustrators which helped me find other books, which was a bonus. I’m not sure how this book made it into my home library, but I’m so glad that it did, and I hope that your library has a copy so you can enjoy it as well.

[Sarah Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a Fairy tale was created for the Starbright Foundation, a non-profit organization that creates media products for seriously ill children. Twenty-one celebrities, and twenty-one illustrators join forces to create a collection of four classic tales retold for the modern age. Each celebrity narrates the perspective of one character for a charming result. An added bonus is the celebrities reading the stories on a CD for a multi-media experience.

Little Red Riding Hood is told from the perspective of Red’s Mother (Glenn Close), Wolf (Robin Williams), Woodcutter (Bruce Willis), Granny (Oprah Winfrey), and Red (Lisa Kudrow). Each drawing is by a different illustrator in a different style that reflects the story but also the public persona of the narrator. The story takes place in modern times complete with optometrists, and grand-daughters that email but don’t call. Granny is no shrinking Violet; she eats well, works out, and has her own garden. This updated version reworks Little Red Riding Hood into hilarious character sketches that keeps the readers attention with its multi-media experience. Quite entertaining.

[Beverly Kennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of fairy tales begins with an introduction by Steven Speilberg, where he describes the work of the Starlight Foundation. This would be a great book to use when teaching author's perspective. The Rumplestiltskin version is written in short parts with each part being told in first person narrative by a different character, including the inanimate spinning wheel and concluding with a piece narrated by the baby. It was funny and easy to read. There is one illustration for each of the characters who narrated and each picture was drawn in a different style. This could lend itself to an art lesson easily, too. I think this book would be a good one to read aloud to a class, or for work with small groups because it would encourage discussion. I would use it with third grade or above.

[Ch_nataliepelaia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This version each character told part of the story through their own eyes. The first born, the spinning wheel, the King, farm girl's father, Rumplestiltskin, the daughter and the Prince. In this story, the king is looking for a wife for his son, the prince. His stable man brags about how his daughter can spin straw into gold. This captured the Kings attention and orders him to send her to the palace.
This story is probably more creative than the others, for it explains what each character is thinking and makes you understand where each character is coming from. Enjoyable story, but I still think the original story is better.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came with a CD with “stars” telling the story. Each story is told by multiple characters. Each character tells one part of the story and is illustrated by a different award winning artist. Besides being very clever and great fun to listen to, it was a great book for discussing – point of view, artistic styles, actors’ influence/skills, different ways of telling the same story. Loved it!

[Liz Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can still find this in print I recommend it highly. There are celebrity voices that are really quite inspired. A great twist on some classic fairy tales.

[Reading For Sanity · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this review and others at http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...

[Tegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

How fun! I love this idea! I can't wait to listen to the recording!