'David Roberts’ illustrations are fabulously detailed and provide an amazing insight into life in three very distinctive eras … highly entertaining … We love all three stories.'
– Story Snug
'With spellbinding storytelling and detailed illustrations, these are utterly original in their portrayals of heroines (we think) we know so well … Full of retro charm, these fresh retellings will be adored by new generations and their… retro parents!'
― Book Bairn
'One of the most stylish collections of fairy tales I’ve ever seen – David Roberts’ stunning illustrations whisk us back to bygone eras, whilst Lynn Roberts-Maloney’s sparkling text transforms some of our most beloved stories … Packed with amazing period details and subtle twists, this is a volume to be treasured.'
― Library Girl and Book Boy blog
'Offers a fabulously illustrated, delightful twist on some traditional fairy stories. Well worth a read!'
― NSTBA blog
'Certainly lives up to its title! … The illustrations are particularly nice!'
― Storytime magazine
'With an unusual twist to well-known tales, this is a beautiful book to buy your little ones!'
– The Teacher Bookworm
'David Roberts’s bold, cartoonish illustrations perfectly complement these three fun-filled stories, where a new setting and time period influence each adventure.'
– Sally Morris ― The Daily Mail
'Glorious illustrations'
– Absolutely Education
'The stories are zingy and fun with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour: perfect… to remind us that girls can rescue themselves and have a lot of fun doing it.'
– Book Trust
'Deliciously, delightfully different takes on the fairy tales we all know.'
― Creative Steps
'David Robert’s detailed illustrations set them in distinct time periods … The text created by his sister Lyn Roberts-Maloney redresses the handsome prince v powerless female narrative and there’s a rich vein of humour'
– British Education /Absolutely Prep magazine
2020-07-28
Three classic fairy tales given 20th- (and 30th-) century settings.
Originally published separately between 2001 and 2016, the stories are massaged in ways that tone down the violence of pre-Disney versions and show off the illustrator’s chops as a caricaturist. In “Cinderella” (2001), the scenes are filled with flamboyant art deco fashions and details; the fairy godmother creates a snazzy limo to take young Greta to the ball; and rosebud-lipped, pointy-nosed evil stepsisters Ermintrude and Elvira survive unmutilated. Similarly, in “Rapunzel” (2003), the title character escapes her mid-1970s flat to run off with (unblinded) pop musician Roger, and in “Sleeping Beauty” (2016), when 16-year-old science-fiction fan Annabel pricks her finger on the needle of a record player, she falls asleep for 1,000 years. The three female leads project airs of independence but really have no more agency here than in the originals. The all-White casts and conventional relationships of the first two stories do loosen a bit in “Sleeping Beauty,” as Annabel, who seems White, is watched over by an interracial pair of motherly aunts and awakened at long last (albeit with a touch, not a kiss) by Zoe, who has light-brown skin and long, black hair. Notes following each tale draw attention to the period details, and even the futuristic city at the end has a retro look. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-21-inch double-page spreads viewed at 70 % of actual size.)
The tweaks deliver no real alterations, but the clothing and hairstyles may amuse. (Fairy tales. 8-10)
