Kids crave great storytelling. They need good, strong characters to nurture their budding imaginations and spark a fire for literature. In these original retellings of fairy tales and folk tales, a strong narrative and plenty of fun dialogue keep things interesting, but so do the tell-it-like-it-is plots.

After all, the Princess mistreats the Frog Prince, the Gingerbread Boy gets eaten in the end, and those tall-tale folk heroes like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan are entirely too big for their britches. People are naughty-a pleasurable shock for children!-and that’s okay. There are still plenty of happy endings to go around.