New Takes on Old Tales

By experimenting with narrative structure or form, authors are able to reinvent familiar stories so that the reader’s experience of old material feels new.  In this episode, you’ll hear about creative retellings in a variety of genres and forms, including biographies, short story anthologies, verse novels, and picture books. Through innovative storytelling and design, these books give readers new access to classic literature, fairy tales, civil rights history, and the Holocaust.

After listening to this episode, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take to the library or book seller.

Books featured in this episode:

• The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds (Candlewick, 2010)
• Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick (First Second, 2011)
• The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)
• Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities by Jason Shiga (Amulet Books, 2010)
• The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, Nate Powell (First Second, 2012)
• Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (Balzer + Bray, 2011)
• A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton, 2010)
• Annexed: A Novel by Sharon Dogar (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010)
• The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf (Candlewick, 2011)