The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales

Princess Bedelia of Arapathia is beautiful, graceful, and practical - so when a dragon moves in and demands a princess to eat, she has a clever solution. She also has a clever solution to avoid marriage to Lord Garp of Istven, and when she's locked in a tower and discovers Prince Perian of Istven, she comes up with a solution for them both to escape (hat tip to Rapunzel).

Drawing on fairy tale traditions but making the princess the hero, this is a delightful story. It's quite text-heavy compared to contemporary picture books - this was published in 1969 - but for those with the attention span, it stands the test of time. The illustrations feature detailed pen and ink work and jewel-like colors.

See also: The Paper Bag Princess

I was skeptical because “I’m writing new fairy tales” isn’t always reassuring- like are they going to have the feel of the big ones, without going too heavy on morals and getting kind of dragged down by details. These hit perfectly though - right vibe, good stories, and some practicality and feminism built in. I don’t know if this has been reprinted since 1978, but I hope it has.

Another set of short fairy tales (six of them), this one for much younger readers. The heroines in this are feisty and interesting and actually DO something, which is always a nice change. They're aimed at pre-teens so were a little too obvious for me to fully enjoy. I wanted more from each of the stories, which is testament to the interesting ideas and engaging characters, although frustrating in the long run. Definitely something I'd give my nieces though!

A re-read and one I owned as a child. The 6 stories are short and it's intended for younger readers. IN each one, a fairy story is given a twist by which the standard big strong (but, let's be honest usually slightly thick) knight rescues the damsel and she marries him. In this case the damsel has quite a large say in what happens. She is the one doing the rescuing, and she certainly has a say in who she marries.
If I was given this as a child (and I'd have been probably top end age for it wen it was published), I can see where some of my ideas came from.

Not as wonderful as I'd hoped - the stories are really too short to develop the characters at all, and so it's neither charming nor satisfying.  They are clever, though, especially Petronella, which has been developed into a picture-book.  Schreiter's pictures are two colored and many silhouette, which I find reminescint of Arthur Rackham.  Iow, they're insufficiently delightful, too.  I'm glad I got this from ILL (Univ. of So. Colorado this time) instead of buying it.  If you wanted better fairy stories for girls look for Kerr and Milne on my shelves (iirc) or PM me.

Another set of short fairy tales (six of them), this one for much younger readers. The heroines in this are feisty and interesting and actually DO something, which is always a nice change. They're aimed at pre-teens so were a little too obvious for me to fully enjoy. I wanted more from each of the stories, which is testament to the interesting ideas and engaging characters, although frustrating in the long run. Definitely something I'd give my nieces though!

Some of the first reinvented, reconsidered fairy tales I ever read, and still among the best. Whimsical, edifying, funny and cohesive. The beautiful silhouette illustrations only add to its many charms.