Gender Swapped Fairy Tales

Product Information

People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales – to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change.

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales, review: Mr Rapunzel and Sleeping Gender Swapped Fairy Tales, review: Mr Rapunzel and Sleeping

The illustrations by Karrie Fransman, boldly coloured in watercolour and ink, are full of rich detail, like a beautiful gown adorned with jewels and embroidered embellishments. Karrie researched classical paintings of illustrated fairy tales, and used the references as a starting point, “I then began to draw my own gender-swapped versions, paying attention to the new power balance in each image.” Imagine a world where seductive male sirens lure brave heroines to their death, where Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun, and where beautiful men are forced to wed underworld queens…

Imagine a world where princesses in shining armour race to rescue their sleeping princes, kings sit by the window sewing and longing for a child and kind-hearted men are rewarded for looking past the flaws of beastly princesses. They haven’t rewritten the stories in this book. They haven’t reimagined endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders. It might not sound like that much of a change, but you’ll be dazzled by the world this swap creates – and amazed by the new characters you’re about to discover. Princesses in shining armour. Kings longing for a child. Young men rewarded for seeing past the flaws of beastly princesses.

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales (Hardback) by Jonathan Plackett

In an age where gender stereotypes are now often being challenged, the authors’ retelling is a welcome collection. When I read the first story, “Handsome and the Beast,” the genders of the characters feel inconsequential at first, until I come to the jobs given to the sons and daughters. The sons are now servants doing housework, and the daughters are working out in the field, which makes one aware of how gender is constructed. While the story is different from the well-known animated version with a singing teapot and dancing candelabra, the genders feel interchangeable – their changes don’t take away from the story’s message of not judging someone by their physical appearance. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{

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Gender Swapped Stories - Karrie Fransman Gender Swapped Stories - Karrie Fransman

Faber Members have access to live and online events, special editions and book promotions, and articles and quizzes through our weekly e-newsletter. If I’m finding a working mother more distracting than a magic hen or a talking mole, I have more work to do pulling the copper wire of princessdom from my brain. ‘I’ll be giving Gender Swapped Fairy Tales to every child I can come Christmas’ (Photo: Karrie Fransman)People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales – to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change . . .