Just Ella (Margaret Peterson Haddix)

Author Biography

Margaret Peterson Haddix is a prolific, award-winning author of children’s and young adult literature, best known for the two series Shadow Children and The Missing. She lives in Columbus, Ohio

Published By: Simon & Schuster

Year: 1999

ISBN: 978-0-7614-5536-3

Reading Level: Grades 6 and up

Reader’s Annotation:

What if the story of Cinderella wasn’t really the fairy tale we’ve been told? And what if Ella’s “happily ever after” wasn’t so happy?

Spindle's End (Robin McKinley)

Author Biography

Robin McKinley has won multiple awards for her young adult fantasy novels, including the 1985 Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown. She lives in Hampshire, England.

Published By: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers

Year: 2000

ISBN: 978-0-698-11950-5

Reading Level: Grades 10 and up

Reader’s Annotation:

In this imaginative retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” a cursed princess is raised as a peasant by fairies to protect her. But the fate decreed at her birth can’t be altered… or can it?

Mechanica (Betsy Cornwell)

Author Biography

Betsy Cornwell has written two YA fantasy novels, served as columnist and editor at Teen Ink, and taught multiple subjects at Notre Dame. She currently lives in Ireland.

Published By: Clarion Books

Year: 2015

ISBN: 978-0-547-92771-8

Reading Level: Grades 8 and up

Reader’s Annotation:

In this steampunk “Cinderella” retelling, mistreated stepdaughter Nick secretly hones her mechanical skills in her mother’s workshop. With the help of good friends and a little magic, will she invent her own happily ever after?

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (Robin McKinley)

Author Biography:
Robin McKinley has won multiple awards for her young adult fantasy novels, including the 1985 Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown. She lives in Hampshire, England.

Published By: HarperCollins Publishers

Year: 1978.

ISBN-10: 0552572322

ISBN-13: 978-0552572323

Reading Level: Grades 7 and up

Reader’s Annotation:
Beauty loathes her nickname. Short, mousy-haired and boyish looking, she avoids society in favor of books and horseback riding. But what she lacks in looks, she makes up for in courage when facing a new life in a mysterious castle… a castle that belongs to a Beast.