Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales

Once upon a time . . . nothing was as it seemed.

What if Sleeping Beauty were actually a frog princess, cursed forever to weep, sleep . . . and leap? Or the Three Chickens had to outwit Goldifox? What if Cinder-Elephant had the chance to attend the ball of her dreams—can she bake her way to meeting a dashing prince?

Zany animals of all species get their own fairy tale endings in these laugh-out-loud twists on the classics from Gregory Maguire, bestselling author of Wicked. 

Who better to wreak havoc with eight beloved fairy tales than Gregory Maguire, the brilliant, funny, and nationally best-selling author of the adult novel Wicked as well as the hilarious middle-grade series the Hamlet Chronicles.

Zany animals of all species run through these fractured tales with alarming speed and dexterity. Who would have thought that the ageless, exquisite Cinderella could be recast as the silly story of an enormous yet lovable elephant who plods along to the ball with glass pie plates on her feet; or that Sleeping Beauty, that most regal of all fairy tales, could be twisted into the story of a frog with a most unusual and promising dance career? Get ready to meet a gorilla queen and a psycho chimp, seven giant giraffes, and one very bad walrus.

Accompanying these hilarious stories are delightfully witty pictures by Chris L. Demarest, master of black line and droll humor.

“Amusing retellings … great for the bad joke set.” - New York Times Book Review

“Demarest’s comical line drawings add humor to the droll text and highlight the tales’ absurdities. … this is a delightful collection, sure to be popular with sophisticated readers.” - Booklist

“ … a delightful collection, sure to be popular with sophsticated readers.” - ALA Booklist

“Full of laughs.” - Chicago Tribune

“ … eight deeply and profoundly silly stories.…Puns, literary and political references, wordplay, and sly wisdom abound.…Dizzylingly funny.” - Kirkus Reviews *starred review*

“Here are amusing retellings of eight familiar fairy tales with the characters as animals, … ” - New York Times Book Review