An Undone Fairy Tale

by Ian Lendler

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When it's illustrator cannot keep up with its reader, a story about shelfish; pie loving king takes numerous silly detours.

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14 reviews
If I had to choose the very best of the 'meta' picture-books out there, this would definitely be on the short list, right up there with [b:The Monster at the End of this Book|44186|The Monster at the End of this Book|Jon Stone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388193494s/44186.jpg|640276] and [b:Press Here|9677870|Press Here|Hervé Tullet|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327934372s/9677870.jpg|14565750]. Even literal children, who know that books don't get changed while one is reading them, will get a kick out of pretending to try to slow down to give the illustrator a chance to get the next page done. And the thing that makes it a keeper is that the story itself, even disregarding the gimmick, is silly fun.
A story, told from the point of view of the artists. A very sweet, funny, action filled story, that could only encourage a child to turn the next page and keep reading by telling them to stop! The story, of a princess locked in a tower and forced to work while waiting for a prince to save her is turned on it's head and quickly improvised as the artists struggle to keep up. And then there's Trevor, the artist's dog. The princess soon realizes that she's not going to be rescued anytime soon, and... well... deals with it. My only complaint is that the story was so short! Maybe a sequel will follow? (Hint, hint?)
I read this book to my little cousins and they laughed their butts off!! The Undone Fairy Tale is your traditional fairy tale with the princess and the king, so forth and so on, but with a creative twist. On every page the author interrupts the story with a side note warning you not to turn the page because Ned, the illustrator hasn't finished drawing the pictures yet. He says you read too fast for him to draw and so at the last minute he has to use everyday objects like fish instead of horses, or a pretzel instead of a dragon. To see what comes next is super funny!
This fairytale seems like it might be like your traditional fairytale but throughout the whole story there are twists to it to make it not your traditional fairytale. The author starts off with telling a story about a princess who needs to be rescued, which follows your basic fairytale story. Then we learn that she needs to be rescued from her evil stepfather who makes her bake pies all day long. As you are reading the story the author interrupts the story because we the readers read too fast and Ned the illustrator is not finished illustrating the next page. He uses random things that are next to him, like a pretzel instead of a dragon to finish the story since we the readers read too fast. This is what I meant by twists to the story, show more I have never read a fairytale story anything like this one. It was very funny, and I did enjoy reading this book. In the end the princess saves the prince and she does so on a snail, not your typical ending to a fairytale. This is a good book to read to students when learning about fairytales and hopefully encourages students if they ever must come up with a story, they think outside the box and aren’t so “traditional”. This is a book I will use in my classroom when learning about fairytales and such. show less
This is a really cute fairy tale that actually has a story within the story. One is the actual fairy tale and the other is the narrator trying to complete the story as you read it. So the narrator is trying to tell you that you do not turn the page beacause the story isnt finished yet, and you are reading to fast for them to make the story. But since you keep turning that page,you rushed him and the story starts to get all out of place which made the fairy tale into a quit interesting ending.
I loved this book. I flagged it as one of my future-classroom MUST HAVES! It was hilarious and I loved how it showed illustrations as they really are- a work in progress!
This is an unusual twist on a fairy tale. It starts off with the princess needing to be resuced from the evil step father. In the middle of reading the narrator and illustrator constantly pipe in to not read ahead because they haven't finished working on it. In the end the princess rescues herself and the prince. This is a good book to compare and contrast the old and knowing of Repunzel.

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Picture of author.
12 Works 731 Members

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Martin, Whitney (Illustrator)

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Genres
Children's Books, Picture Books
DDC/MDS
315Social sciencesStatisticsGeneral statistics of Asia
LCC
PZ8 .L47695 .ULanguage and LiteratureFiction and juvenile belles lettresFiction and juvenile belles lettresJuvenile belles lettres
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Members
166
Popularity
196,245
Reviews
14
Rating
(4.22)
Languages
English
Media
Paper
ISBNs
3