New Takes on Classic Fairy Tales

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Today I am going to share with you three books based on classic fairy tales. Two of them star Hello Kitty and the third is perfect for Halloween. Hello Kitty is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company, Sanrio. She was created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974. She is currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi and worth about seven billion dollars a year!! (Source) Hello Kitty's birthday is November 1st and she is a bright little girl cat that has a heart of gold. She is about as tall as five apples. Her best friend is her twin sister, Mimmy White. (Source)

Let's start with Hello Kitty Presents the Storybook Collection Little Red Riding Hood by Sanrio. Hello Kitty is Little Red Riding Hood. She goes off to see her sick grandmother and a wolf jumps out and wants to walk with her. When she stops to pick flowers the wolf goes to grandmother's house and knocks. Grandmother however had seen him coming and hid in the closet. The wolf goes in and puts on Grandmother's clothes to play a joke on Little Red Riding Hood. What I like about this version is there is not mention of killing the wolf and no mention of eating Little Red Riding Hood except at the end when the farmer comes and saves the day. It is a very non-scary version of the story.

Our second Hello Kitty book is Hello Kitty Presents the Storybook Collection The Little Mermaid by Sanrio. 

 In this book Hello Kitty is the Little Mermaid. This book is similar to the classic story except when Hello Kitty gets legs the prince recognizes her as the one who saved him.

 In both of these books the other cat characters are Hello Kitty's family members. The farmer in Little Red Riding Hood is the same picture as her Grandfather, Anthony White, on the Sanrio website. These books provide a shortened and less scary version of the classic stories.

Our third book is Goblin Hood by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Piper Thibodeau. In this take-off of Robin Hood, a greedy witch has come to Scarewood Forest and wants all the Halloween candy for herself. Goblin Hood has to stop the witch and return the candy to the gremlins to make sure everyone gets some candy on Halloween including the witch!! It has a very happy ending with the witch learning a lesson. It is a fun introduction to Robin Hood's story in a short, non-frightening way. Hazel says she wishes she knew more about Robin Hood with this story, but she keeps reading the book to herself. It is definitely a fun Halloween book!!

For more fairy tale stories check out Fairy Tales in Different Cultures Series and the other fairy tale books we have reviewed! For more Halloween books, activities and ideas check out here and be sure to check out our list of our favorite non-scary Halloween books.