The Old and the New

 

The Old and the New

 

As a book blogger, I spent a huge amount of time reading, and one type of book that I’ve been enjoying for years now is the retelling of classic stories with a modern twist. These works run the gamut from picture books to middle grade to YA to adult literature (as does my blog!).

 

The Hogarth Shakespeare series, for example, features retellings of Shakespeare’s plays by such modern luminaries as Margaret Atwood, Tracy Chevalier, and Anne Tyler. A similar series takes on Jane Austen’s work, with modern updates from Alexander McCall Smith, Joanna Trollope, and others. In fact, there are so many retellings of Shakespeare and Jane Austen that it’s impossible to keep track of them all.

 

As we’re focusing on middle grade here, I thought I’d mention a few books I’ve highlighted on my blog, where I interview authors. 

 

 

One recent retelling is Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Sisters of the Neversea, which updates J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan featuring an English character and a Native American character. Smith, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, told me: “J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (or Peter and Wendy) is a classic book that included Native characters but in a stereotypical way. So it seemed high time to reframe them more positively as three-dimensional human beings who rang true.”

 

Another, Midsummer’s Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca, updates A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In our interview, LaRocca said, “Midsummer’s Mayhem is inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but it’s not a straight retelling. The book is really about 11-year-old Mimi, who is feeling invisible in the midst of her large, super-gifted Indian-American family and dreams of winning a baking contest to finally demonstrate her own talent.”

 

A third, Pippa Park Raises Her Game, by Erin Yun, was inspired by Dickens’ Great Expectations. Yun told me: “In Great Expectations, the main character, Pip, has a mysterious benefactor who helps him become a gentleman. In Pippa Park Raises Her Game, Pippa receives a strange scholarship to an elite private school. Both books have themes of ambition and class, and in both cases, the main character pines after a cold, aloof love interest.”

 

There are so many more out there! I’m looking forward to whatever crosses my desk next.

 

--Deborah Kalb