You may have seen how much I love writing fairy tale retellings, particularly for middle grade readers. If you want retellings that are also for preschoolers through first-graders, here’s my review of a book that would fit the description.
Good Night Classics: A Fairy-Tale Journey Through God’s Good News by C.S. Fritz
Come look at fairy tales through fresh eyes, and Pinocchio the living puppet will join you. He was made by woodcarver Geppetto, so he starts his life as a creation of Geppetto’s. It’s a picture of how human beings start their relationship with God, being creations of God. But one must also become a child of God, and Pinocchio asks what living as a child looks like. Geppetto reads him fairy tales that illustrate Biblical truths.
Come look at fairy tales through fresh eyes, and Pinocchio the living puppet will join you. He was made by woodcarver Geppetto, so he starts his relationship with Geppetto as a Creator-Creation relationship. It’s a picture of how human beings start their relationship with God, with them being the creations of God. But one must also become a child of God, and Pinocchio asks what living as a child looks like. Geppetto reads him fairy tales that illustrate Biblical truths. The first one is “The Three Little Pigs,” a lesson on building one’s house on the Rock. I like how the third little pig asks the king how to build a strong house, just as we are to ask God how to build life on a solid foundation. The next fairy tale is “Jack and the Beanstalk,” where we see Jack so consumed with greed, he’s willing to climb back up the towering beanstalk to steal more coins. “Hansel and Gretel” is retold, and I like how they make Gretel look like a farm girl with her overalls, and she’s a protective big sister to Hansel. Her red braids give her an Anne Shirley look, and like Anne Shirley, she has a longing for something more. In her case, it’s more delicious food, and that craving gets her into trouble.
But just as Jack and Gretel crave for more, so does Pinocchio, so he runs away from home, but not without taking a book of fairy tales with him. I guess Geppetto took time to teach Pinocchio to read. The wooden boy reads “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and then “Little Red Riding Hood.” The nice twist in Red Riding Hood’s tale is that the huntsman who saves her is her father, a representation of Father God saving us from death.
While Geppetto hopes for Pinocchio to return, he reads two stories. The first one is “The Lion and the Mouse,” a picture of someone being kind even to their enemy. The next story is a lesser-known one called “Two Travelers,” a story of two men thinking the Elwood tree so boring, they plan to cut it for firewood. The tree laments that the men want it for its blessings instead of itself, but it gives the men its leaves and twigs for fire-making anyways.
Geppetto searches for Pinocchio and finds him, but he has to repaint Pinocchio after the rain washes the painted features away. Two stories are told in the midst of all this: “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Elves and the Shoemaker.” The tortoise is so adorable with his large, round glasses. A bonus is where the finish line is a garland of dandelions, and as the tortoise races the hare, he carries a dandelion on his shell as a reminder of what’s ahead. In “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” the shoemaker is so moved by the elf’s kindness toward him, he feels he must pay the elf back. But the elf tells him it’s a gift and that the shoemaker shouldn’t try to earn love.
What happens to Pinocchio? With Geppetto’s love, he changes into a real boy, a picture of the new birth and the cumulation of the fairy tales’ lessons.
The book finishes with a group discussion guide, where kids and parents can discuss the lessons from the stories and compare them to Scripture. Fairy tales sure get down to the heart, much like Jesus’ parables do. God bless you as you dig into Biblical truth and the virtues shown in these classic tales.
