Review Detail

If you know me you know that I absolutely love retellings, so when I requested this book I was expecting a pretty typical twisted retelling, but this book was so far from anything I imagined. We have our usual fairy tale characters Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, etc. but add in zombies, and vampires. BEANSTALKER AND OTHER HILARIOUS SCARYTALES is told in third person mostly following Jack as he tries to escape vampires and zombies.

This book was so weirdly amazing and so far outside the realm of any retelling, I’ve ever read before. It was hard not to like it. The characters were so unlike any I’d ever seen, the stories were very much reminiscent of the fairy tales we all know but completely fresh and new. And the way Kiersten narrates this book was so hilariously done. What I loved with the narration was how we got to see each character along with the hysterical tidbits Kiersten threw in throughout the book. The easy flow of the story along with the illustrations made it so hard to put down. It’s something that I think kids will get a kick out of. Another thing I really quite enjoyed was the way Kiersten used homonyms to really throw in some confusing and downright disgusting mix-ups.

These characters were the weirdest and also I kind of need more of them. We have Vampire Snow White and zombie Red Riding Hood. Cinderella and Prince Charming can both set things on fire. I mean these characters were just so different from anything I’ve read and I loved it. Also, I need a complete story of Prince Charming and Cinderella controlling fire, because… reasons. Mostly we follow Jack from village to village as he tries and fails to help those around him. I have to say in the beginning I did not like Jack, he is quite the trouble maker and he kept making messes for someone else to clean up. Not cool Jack. But after awhile he actually started to grow on me. He was funny and he had some boneheaded moments but in the end, he was just trying to help others. The ending is what really had me hoping for more. The way they fixed everything but may have just ended up causing more problems will be interesting to see.

If we do end up getting more I would love to see Prince Charming and Cinderella a bit more. I think it would be so cool to get to know them more. Overall this book was everything I wanted but nothing I was expecting. Funny, disgusting, and interesting, I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to see more from this world and what kind of trouble Jack might get into next. And if it’s any indication from that ending it’s gonna be BIG.