Book Review

Book: Off With Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood by Maria Tatar

Last semester I read a book similar in topic by Jack Zipes. It was not very good, convoluted, and he obviously thought way too much of himself. Tatar's book could not have been more different! It was a breath of fresh air compared to most fairy tale theory books. Although her last chapter was completely unnecessary and could have been left out completely, I still really loved this book.

One of my favorite quotes from the book: "It may seem pedantic to demand logic from a genre that traffics in the supernatural, but even fairy tales have their ground rules, and those rules assure a degree of predictability in the plot." I thought this was great and it really shows the complexity beneath the supposed simplicity of fairy tales.

There were so many interesting things that I learned from Tatar that I will be able to incorporate into my own fairy tales. I'm so glad that I chose this book this semester. Turns out it doesn't have to be painful to read fairy tale theory!

Happy reading!