A Wolf at the Door: and Other Retold Fairy Tales (original 2000; edition 2000)

This book is a collection of fairy tale retellings or fairy tale-inspired short stories intended for younger readers. These are the stories and their authors:

The Months of Manhattan by Delia Sherman, Cinder Elephant by Jane Yolen, Instructions by Neil Gaiman, Mrs Big: Jack and the Beanstalk retold by Michael Cadnum, Falada: The Goose Girl's Horse by Nancy Farmer, A Wolf at the Door by Tanith Lee, Ali Baba and the Forty Aliens by Janeen Webb, Swans by Kelly Link, The Kingdom of Melting Glances by Katherine Vaz, Hansel's Eyes by Garth Nix, Becoming Charise by Kathe Koja, The Seven Stage A Comeback by Gregory Maguire, The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Patricia A. McKillip

I admit, if this hadn't been a book club read, I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own, and the reasons are threefold. First, even though I've been known to enjoy stories involving re-imagined fairy tales, it's not my preferred subject. Second, I'm not normally drawn to children's or middle grade books. And third, I'm generally not a big fan of anthologies or short story collections. One of the greatest joys of reading is being able to connect with the characters, and personally I find short stories are often too brief or are over too quickly for me to do that.

Still, another great joy of reading is being able to try new things, and I was glad for the chance to read something different for a change. This was a nice change of pace and a good opportunity to discover some new authors and their takes on the fairy tale subject.

I have to say, my feelings are mixed. There were stories I loved, and stories I did not like at all. Among my favorites were The Months of Manhattan (which I thought was the perfect story to open with) and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (likewise, the perfect closing story). As for the rest of the stories in between, there are a few that stand out, but I mostly found many of them to be mediocre.

The stories I tended to enjoy more were the fairy tale retellings that were more faithful to the classics, like Mrs. Big: Jack and the Beanstalk or Ali Baba and the Forty Aliens or Hansel's Eyes. These included elements from the original fairy tales that were immediately recognizable and gave me a frame of reference to which I could anchor myself while I read. Then there were those stories that were just downright "anything-goes" and made me wonder if the author even had an idea or simply slapped together a bunch of random fairy tale elements in an attempt to make their story sound as crazy as possible.

Granted, my feelings may have been influenced by my personal preferences that I mentioned at the beginning of this review, but I tried my best to form objective opinions. Overall, save for a few gems, the stories weren't too memorable, but the creativity and sheer range of styles in this book were impressive. Adults can certainly appreciate this, but I can see kids enjoying themselves a lot more with the stories in this collection, even (or perhaps especially) the ridiculous and nonsensical ones. ( )

A few of the stories were interesting, but on the whole the book wasn't that great. ( )

Windling, Terri ( )

The Wolf at the Door is a collection of fairytales retold by prominent writers in the Young Adult and Fantasy genres—exactly the sort of thing that tends to catch my eye and nag at my mind until I simply cannot resist the prospect of picking it up and reading it. This has happened twice now, and neither time have I been impressed by the entries. I was hoping that I would understand the stories better now I am older, and while that was the case in a few instances, comprehension did not necessarily lead to love.

There are a few selections here that I do feel stand out, however. Two of them, Neil Gaiman’s “Instructions” and Gregory Maguire’s “The Seven Stage a Comeback,” are mostly poetic in form: the former is a series of directions on what to do when one stumbles into a fairy tale (“It’s always best to be prepared for these things, after all”), while the latter has the seven dwarves hatching a plan for a reconciliation with Snow White—or is it revenge for her departure that they desire? I’ve often avoided the work of these two authors because of their tendency to utilize unnecessary adult content, but both of their submissions here are perfectly clean, as well as being witty, whimsical, and wildly creative.

Unfortunately, the prose selections are not nearly up to this standard. In terms of content and reading level, they range from Garth Nix’s dark and gruesome “Hansel’s Eyes” to Jane Yolen’s “Cinder Elephant,” which would be better suited to a child in the nursery than an eight- or ten-year-old, I think. This last tale really disappointed me, because I know Yolen is capable of so much more. That said, I did love her description of the skinny stepfamily, with “hearts so thin, you could read a magazine through them.” Also, so many of the retellings were painfully cliché, including—believe it or not—Nix’s. He seems to be the kind of author other readers might find incredibly creative because he makes so many cosmetic changes to the story, but his characters are both inhuman and unoriginal. Blegh.

Nancy Farmer’s “Falada,” Delia Sherman’s “The Months of Manhattan,” and Kathe Koja’s “Becoming Charise” are all passable, but not at all the sort of stories I am likely to remember.

Then Patricia McKillip comes in and blows them all away.

I do not say this because I am campaigning to become her Biggest Fan Ever. (I am, but that’s beside the point.) When I first read this collection years ago, I had no idea who she was, and I still thought her version of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” incredible. Unlike Nix, she makes relatively few cosmetic changes to the story, merely turning the Grimms’ old soldier into a young one, compressing the visits underground into one night, giving the princesses floral names, and making it explicit that they have pledged themselves to the dead. And yet—and yet, in sixteen brief pages she creates a fascinating interplay of light and shadow, with three-dimensional characters and thematic complexity. That’s it, Patricia. Show ‘em how it’s done.

Though I enjoyed the selections by McKillip, Gaiman, and Maguire, I would not recommend this collection overall. If one of your favorite authors submitted a story, check The Wolf at the Door out at your local library. Otherwise, let it be. ( )

I've recently found a new love in the fantasy world - and that's anthologies of short stories! I enjoy them for many reasons, the top two being because I find new authors this way, and because it encourages me to stretch my own wings as a writer. Much more so than reading full length books because I feel like, at this point in time, the short story format is something I'm much more able to write.

"A Wolf in the Door" provides a bunch of stories inspired by traditional fairy tales, but written with new twists! Most of them will be familiar to the average reader, and some of them come from the traditions of other cultures that you may not be as familiar with. There are 13 different stories in this book and I enjoyed each and every one of them!

I'm not sure I can pick out a favorite from this anthology. I love traditional stories that I grew up on, and I've always loved it when people "play" with giving old stories new twists. So I simply loved this book! ( )

An anthology of re-told fairy tales collected by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. These tales are aimed at younger readers than the previous collections I have read, but were nonetheless enjoyable. There are 13 tales in all by a variety of different authors.

The Months of Manhattan - Delia Sherman
Liz Wallach is a good daughter who inherits bad-tempered step sister Beth Dodson. Liz gets lost doing a school project in the MET and stumbles across a magic painting entitled The Twelve Months of Manhattan. Since then all she has is good luck so Beth tries the same thing getting nothing but bad luck.

Cinder Elephant - Jane Yolen
A re-telling of Cinderella where Elly is a large girl that the Prince falls in love with. The moral at the end reads "If you love a waist, you waste a love".

Instructions - Neil Gaiman
Instructions for safely passing through a fairy tale.

Mrs Big: Jack and the Beanstalk Retold - Michael Cadnum
After Mrs Big steps on a milmaid, her husband buys a house in the clouds from a travelling peddlar. One day a thief comes to their house from a beanstalk grown from beans from a travelling peddlar. Mrs Big's husband ends up dying and she goes after the peddlar who started the whole thing.

Falada: The Goose Girls Horse - Nancy Farmer
A happier version of The Goose Girl where Falada manages to keep her head and return whole to Elfland.

A Wolf at the Door - Tannith Lee
After the Ice Age the animals have learnt to talk. One day Glasina finds a particularly verbose wolf and takes him home. He acts human and she realises to break the spell on him she will have to kiss him and then marry him. This will really mess up her travel plans...

Ali Baba and the Forty Allies - Janeen Web
Alberto Barbarino is a goth loner who is teased and called Ali Baba. One day he finds the treasure of 40 aliens in a disused mine.

Swans - Kelly Link
A mixture of Rumplestiltskin and The Wild Swans. Emma hasn't spoken since her mother who could spin gold died. Her father remarries a woman who can't stand noise and she turns everyone but Emma into swans.

The Kingdom of Melting Glances - Katherine Vazaken
Taken from 2 Portuguese legends. Rosa has a lily on her face who makes her magical. After her parents melt away she befriends a hummingbird, but her sisters injure it terribly. Rosa travels to the Palace of the Sun to nurse it back to health.

Hansel's Eyes - Garth Nix
A modern re-telling of Hansel and Grettal who are caught by a witch in a Playstation shop. She wants Hansels eyes for her own.

Becoming Chaise - Kathe Koja
The Ugly Duckling meets school nerd. The point is that she was never a duckling, always a swan.

The Seven Stage a Comeback - Gregory Maguire
The seven dwarves march out with the glass coffin and a bit of the poisoned apple to reclaim what is theirs.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses - Patricia A McKillip
A fairy standard re-telling of the original story about 12 Princesses who disappear every evening to dance the night away.

My favourites were Cinder Elephant, A Wolf at the Door, The Kingdom of Melting Glances, Becoming Chaise and The Seven Stage a Comeback. My main favourites were the tales of stories I wasn't too familiar with or that put a really new spin on an old story. ( )

A collection of thirteen short stories that retell various well known tales, from Cinderella to Hansel and Gretel. Some of the authors were very well know to me - like Jane Yolen and Neil Gaiman - and others I'd never heard of. The stories are not exceptional. Not that they're not fun or enjoyable, because they were, but when I read retellings, I'm excited to read something really unique or creative, a whole new creation using the old material, and these stories are mostly just funny retellings without much reinvention.

My favorites were Yolen's "Cinder Ellephant", Nix's "Hansel's Eyes", and Gaiman's poem. Yolen's story is funny, a bit satirical, and features a heroine who is pleasantly plump, and resembles a fat hen in her dress for the ball. Nix's story is a dark story based on a dark tale, only his witch doesn't eat the kids, but cuts them up to sell their organs, and she isn't cooked in an oven at the end. Gaiman's poem is, in my opinion, the best of the book. It's a list of directions in case of being caught in a fairy tale, and draws upon lots of old stories. I certainly had a fun time reading these various stories, they're quick and easy to swallow, and some of them will stick in my mind for a while. Still, nothing revolutionary here in the way of retelling. ( )

Perhaps it's because this book is intended for a YA audience, but I did not enjoy this as much as the other fairy tale anthologies that Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling edit. Some of them were good -- I definitely enjoyed the Ali Baba retelling, and Garth Nix's Seven Dwarves retelling. But the rest of the them mostly just left me flat. ( )

This book was suprisingly bad. It had so many good authors and so much potential to be a good short story book for kids. The only story I enjoyed was "A Wolf at the Door." The rest were just...not up to par. ( )

Summary: A collection of retold fairy tales by a variety of children's and fantasy authors, most notably Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, and Gregory Maguire. Stories include Cinderella, Snow White, The Goose Girl, Little Red Riding Hood, Twelve Dancing Princesses, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as others I'd never heard of. About half are told from a different character's perspective, and half are modernizations or modifications to the familiar story. Stories range from short to long, and include a few poems.

Review: Maybe I'm beyond the target audience age, but I was kind of disappointed by this. The stories were pretty variable in content, tone, and length, as would be expected, but also in humor, charm, and overall quality. It seemed like the pieces I enjoyed were over too soon, and the stories I didn't care for seemed to go on and on. The retellings work better in some cases than others, as well - often the change doesn't seem to add anything to the story other than novelty for its own sake, and actually seemed to fracture the flow of the narrative more than anything else.

Recommendation: Short and inoffensive enough, but I'd recommend something like Gregory Maguire's Leaping Beauty for a more consistently enjoyable example of this genre. ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/162623.html ( )

This child/young adult aimed collection of thirteen tales includes plenty of retellings of favorites, and a few from less seen cultures (like Portugal). I know and love about half the authors, so the book had a strong basis for me to begin with, and the stories generally lived up to my expectations. Definitely a good read. ( )

This book of short stories turns the old fairy tales upside down. I really loved the different takes of the classics.

These short stories are funny and makes you think about the villains of the stories.

Some were a little long and other's I have never heard of, but they are good all the same. This is a great book to read right before bed. ( )