Discussion: Retell it to Me

This Week’s Topic: Retell it to Me

My trip to Disney had me thinking about the characters, which had me thinking of the fairytales that inspired many of them, which had me thinking about retellings. Yes! What's old is new, and retellings never seem to go out of style.

How many have you seen?

Just like every generation has their version of A Star is Born, every generation is bound to have one, two, or ten different version of some classic story.

When I think of the many, many retellings I have read, I can break them down into three categories.

1. The somewhat strict retellings, which retain a multitude of elements from the original story. 
2. The loose retellings, which capture the essence of the source material, keeping many big ideas, but make some major changes to make the story their own. 
3. The vague retellings, which I honestly would not have thought were retellings had someone not told me they were. 

As far as retellings go, I like them to be somewhere between a strict and loose retelling. I enjoy being able to search for those pieces retained from original story, and map the characters and major plot points back to its source story, but I also want the author to do something to make the tale fresh and original. I love fairytales, and I like seeing the moral of the story kept intact, but I want to see how far the author can stretch their imagination in order to reinvent the story in some way. 

Let's look at my examples:

Geekerella by Ashley Poston is one of my top retellings! I absolutely adored this book. It was really easy to spot the elements of the original Cinderella tale in this retelling. From character names, to big events, which drove the plot, Geekerealla shared many with this book, while also being modern and fresh. For me, this was a somewhat strict retelling. 

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel was one that pleasantly surprised me, and

though elements of the original Peter Pan story were easy to find, there were some elements of the original, which Sheinmel illustrated in such an interesting way, which was a huge departure from the source book. Many names were the same, but the modern beach setting and drug storyline set it a long ways from its predecessor. 

And then, there is The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler. I want to first say, that I really, really liked this book. It was a 5-star read for me. I loved it! However, I had no idea it was a retelling. After someone told me this was a Little Mermaid story, I really only saw the idea of the main character losing her voice as something from the original tale. And I guess she was able to win the hero's heart without her voice, but I only picked those parts out after learning it was a retelling. The Little Mermaid story elements were not obvious. 

Now that I sort of explained how I mentally group retellings, share with me your thoughts on retellings, because I am planning to do some group reading, where I read a few retellings of the same story, and then, discuss. 

Now it's your turn!

Do you have a favorite retelling? 

Let us know in the comments!