If you've read all the traditional fairy tales to your child and are looking for an alternative, this book, which offers new variations of eight stories, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and the Princess and the Pea. Perfect for five-year-olds, or kids who are beginning to read, the book is presented in a color-coded, two-reader format. In these short stories with a twist, one reader reads the part of the good guy while the other reads the part of the villain before they both come together in the end and decide that it's better to be friends and share the story than be enemies.
The short, alternating sections are, at about 10 to 20 words, the perfect length for a child who is just learning to read. With numerous, comical illustrations and flowing rhyming words, there are plenty of hints for the child who is struggling to sound out a word. When reading this story to younger children, adults can either team up with another adult or make your child laugh by attempting to use funny voices to create a noticeable separation between the characters.
I tag-team read this story with a five-year-old, Ava, that I occasionally babysit. She is learning to sound out words and we had a blast reading these stories together. It's a fun, interactive experience that the kids can really become involved in and it makes them enjoy story time even more than usual. The off-shoots of the famous fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood taking the wolf to dinner or Goldilocks offering the make Baby Bear some porridge with honey at her house in order to repay him for eating his breakfast, brought about many giggles as well.
--Abby