CHILDREN'S BOOK REVIEW: FAIRY TALES THE VILLAINS VERSION BY KAYE UMANSKY

Fairy Tales The Villains Version
Author:Kaye Umansky
Publisher: Barrington Stoke
ISBN: 978-1-78112-853-4
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

Remember fairy tales? These are where the villains get their comeuppance and the innocent damsels get their princes, well, these are very different stories told from the villains perspective.

Here are four tales you will find strangely similar to ones you already know and love; Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel, though they have been changed and instead they read as The Queen's Tale, The Stepsister's Story, The 13th Fairy and The Wickedest Witch in the World.

In The Queen's Tale, the evil queen from Snow White is unimpressed with her husband, King Frank buying her a state of the art magic mirror - it's boring and she already has one (her husband doesn't know though). When she uses he mirror she finds out she isn't the fairest in the land and that is when she starts to plot  to get rid of Snow White!

In The Stepsister's Story, told from the ugly sister's point of view; Cinderella has gone through the whole ball thing, and the slipper fitting and married Prince Florian, so she has her happy ending, but what about them? While Cinders gets letters of gratitude and love, and invites to further balls, her sisters get hate mail! As Cinders is the favorite her sisters get to ruin her day, her clothes and turn her into their slave, but with disastrous consequences.

The 13th Fairy has Grimbleshanks, the wicked witch who is annoyed at not being invited to a party at a palace to celebrate the christening of a princess. Every other fairy has been invited, while she is left out, so in her anger she decides to curse the princess, but her curse doesn't quite go to plan.

The Wickedest Witch in the World has Old Maggit who is the official winner complete with silver cup and she is the envy of all the other witches, but how did she win? Old Maggit tells her tale of how she modified her house to appeal to children, and Hansel and Gretel come by and, as in the origimal tale, are lured in by the witches candy house. In this tale the children are very naughty, and she makes sure she sorts them out, but not before they help her become the best witch around.

Kaye Umansky's stories are a real treat for fairy tale buffs who enjoy a story with a twist, and one illustrated by Alexandre Honore, Mike Phillips, Stefano Tumbellini and Gerald Kelley and comes with a Which Villain are You? quiz and Old Maggit's recipe for her Wickedest Pancakes. This could be one of Kaye's hot titles of 2019, just like her others and as it is in the Conkers range, older children will like it as we get closer to Halloween with witches, broomsticks and other things that aer on the cool cover!This is a frightfully good read with you rooting for the witches!