Riot Recommendation: What Are Your Favorite YA Fairytales?
A gorgeously illustrated collection of twelve original stories by the New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood and The Night Country. Journey into the Hinterland, a brutal and beautiful world where a young woman spends a night with Death, brides are wed to a mysterious house in the trees, and an enchantress is killed twice—and still lives. Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans alike, Tales from the Hinterland will include gorgeous illustrations by Jim Tierney, foil stamping, two-color interior printing, and two-color printed endpapers.
Do we ever outgrow a good fairytale? I know I sure haven’t. I may look at the ones from my childhood with a far more critical eye these days (and relate a little too hard to the evil queen/witch types, but we can unpack that another time), but I’m still a sucker for fantastical tales set in far off places where good conquers evil, stories driven by that relentless clinging onto hope in the dark. I’m especially drawn to them now when they finally feel more inclusive than they were when I was a kid. I want to go back into time and tell Young Vanessa that she will one day learn how to style the fur ball on her head, and that the stories she falls asleep to will one day feature a heroine who looks more like she does.
Young adult fairytales have felt especially exciting to me in the last several years, not only for embracing diversity and inclusion, but because the stories themselves are just so dang creative — and often subversive (just the way I like ’em!). So tell us: what are your favorite YA fairytales these days? Whether they’re original stories or fresh new takes on classics, come shout them at us on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll gather up your answers and be back next week to share a roundup with your fellow Riot readers. Let’s all bask in the warm hug of a story where goodness prevails, or at least shakes sh*t up trying.
