The Fairy Tale Fan Club

Starred review from August 15, 2024
Actor/comedian Ayoade presents a tongue-in-cheek collection of purported letters to and from well-known fairy-tale characters from Western tradition. Bibliophiles will love this story from the beginning, where the supposed narrator--C.C. Cecily, the Senior Secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club--explains how he came to compile and edit this work. He considers himself a physical coward who possesses great literary skills--supposedly in contrast to most fairy-tale folk. Less enthusiastic readers will perk up if they skip the nattering introduction and start with the hand-written letter from "Ira (aged 8)" to Little Red Riding Hood. Ira questions how Red could possibly have mistaken a wolf for her grandmother. Red's response, which explains how much her grandmother resembles a wolf, is supported by humorous art. Cecily's comment about Red being "literally wolfed down" is the first of many puns. The text also abounds with literary, historical, and biblical references--and even some potty humor, as when Prince Charming offers Prince Farty Pants advice on coping with gastrointestinal woes. Each epistolary set riffs on different aspects of humankind and of literature. Sleeping Beauty snarkily defends her lifestyle by expounding on sleep science. Cinderella assumes an iPad is a cleaning supply. The laugh-out-loud letter from Humpty Dumpty scrutinizes anthropomorphism. Facts occasionally surface, including the original plot of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Droll sketches, rendered in pencil with bits of digital color, perfectly complement the text. Happily ever after, mortal reader! (quiz)(Fiction. 8-14)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 15, 2024
Grades 2-5 *Starred Review* Definitely providing a public service, C. C. Cecily, senior secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club, has assembled a set of querulous letters from children to renowned fairy-tale characters, along with often-revealing responses. Readers who have wondered, for instance, how someone could be swallowed by a wolf and survive hear from both Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf--the latter disingenuously complaining about the "Meanie in the Red Hoodie" who "refused to help a brother out" by sharing a cupcake. ("Hi--I'm just a nonthreatening wolf" reads the caption under Roberts' accompanying view of a looming, exaggeratedly toothy predator. Right.) In other correspondence, Sleeping Beauty responds indignantly to 12-year-old Anna's "You actually marry someone who kisses you without your permission. Er, passive much?" and the Little Mermaid reminds a movie lover what actually happened to her in the original tale: "Saw a boy I liked, rescued him, and now I'm doing community service." In a final letter to a deservedly angry frog, the "editor" sagely points out the value of fairy tales in providing readers with different perspectives on themselves and their lives. That's an important lesson to absorb, though only one of several in this indispensable collection. "If there's anything to learn from me," writes a rueful Rumpelstiltskin, "I'd say it's never give anyone the chance to get out of a promise. These golden-haired princesses are dark."

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 19, 2024
In a comical introduction, C.C. Cecily, Senior Secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club, describes at length fielding “Where are they now?”–type queries from curious humans to fairy tale icons (“If necessary, I add my own comments,” Cecily notes). But the fan letters printed throughout this work reveal much about the so-called fans, many of whom write in distinctively British snark. To the emperor of “new clothes” fame, one notes: “Gutted, mate! You must feel like a proper plank!” Another asks Sleeping Beauty, “You seem to have no personality. I mean—who are you?” The fairy tale protagonists, in turn, seem more tetchy than enchanted in their responses: Humpty Dumpty complains of being “unfairly anthropomorphized and labeled,” while the Little Mermaid replies, “No, my best friend is not a tropical fish. I’m from Denmark.” Though the fairy folks’ correspondences do occasionally go on, Ayoade’s clever phrasing and epistolary structure prove both sturdy and irresistible, and pen illustrations by Roberts, rendered in precise, fine lines and intricate cross-hatching, provide wry visual asides throughout. Characters are portrayed on the book’s cover with various skin tones. Ages 8–12.