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RECYCLED ELVES: FAIRY TALE DO-OVERS

by Lucas Gonz a lez a nd Chr is Molna r

sessions, hours each

Weve heard the same old fairy

tales for too long! What about the original version of the story, before it was changed, when Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the Wolf? And what if the Wolfs belly actually turned out to be a portal into an alternate universe, where you are a talking recycling bin who drives a Mister Softee truck? When we found ourselves at 826NYC as interns in the fall of 2010, director Joan Kim was eager to give us the opportunity to work with the young writers who find inspiration in the writing lab behind the swinging shelf of 826s Superhero Supply Co. As we flipped through the pages of a past edition of 826 Nationals writing workshop manual, we came across one lesson plan that we thought would be perfect for the young learners we had been working with: writing your own fairy tales. This format (that of the fantastical precautionary tale with a moral bent), would be a perfect vehicle for the imagination of our young writers. Our hope was that this workshop would open the door to some fun, wild, strange, and inventive stories by reimagining fairy tales, recycling their format, and learning how such stories have evolved over many centuries. Our journey began with a discussion of some familiar quirks and tropes: the vital elements to fairy tales. So we started by asking our students 36

about some fairy tales they knew. We talked heroes, we talked villains, we talked pigs, fairies, wolves, and we talked elves. We knew we needed to have a mission, and we knew that mission needed to be interrupted by some sort of dilemma: monsters, aliens, or what would eventually turn out to be a trio of evil space dictators in one students story. Whoever he or she or it would be, our hero would need to find his way out of this situation and teach us all a lesson. But, as we learned in our workshop, fairy tales havent always had happy endings! Staying mindful of kids attachment and long relationship to the versions of modern fairy tales, we began to discuss famous fairy tales as they once existed in a primitive form, stories that are not without their sense of shock value to the wholesome and Disneyfied tales we are used to. little red riding hood In the original version of this story, there is no Grandma! There is no valiant woodsman who saves LRRH from the belly of the wolf! There is only a little girl with a riding cape and deceitful wolf with a full belly. snow white The witch wants the heroines liver and lungs! Thats right! For dinner! No magical

kiss here, either, sadly. Just a righteous Leave it up to the students to decide what downfall for the evil witch . . . the brothkind of tale they want to tell. The only goal is ers Grimm condemn her to dance to death to tell a story that serves as a spellbinding tale of in red-hot iron shoes. caution! The characters are theirs to shape. The elements of the plot, the twists and turns, are goldilocks and the three bears We all know this heartwarming tale about theirs to shuffle and reinvent. Lets recycle some old stories and begin creating the next generation a pretty little girl who stumbles into the of fairy tales and whimsical warnings. abode of the three bears. There are purOne way we decided to start writing was by portedly two version of the original tale. doing a fairy tale together, Mad-Lib style In the first, Goldilocks, upon realizing that the bears are returning, jumps out the (next page). Working through these Mad-Libs will give window, breaks either her legs or her neck, students an idea of the format they can take on. and is sent to prison for trespassing. In the It will give students a chance to get warmed up, second version, the story is all too short! talk about some characters, some elements of the Upon the bears arrival home, our little stories, and open up the possibilities of their heroine is immediately devoured. own tales. The list, as you will find from some research In the first session, we did the intro just on the web, goes on and on! Fairy tales have described and got started with our stories. In never seemed more strange as they do now, when our second workshop, we finished the stories we can look back on their evolution over time and took some time to illustrate them with coland see how different stories send the same mes- lages and drawings. The workshop concluded sage in a very different way. The enslavement of with some amazing storytelling, with our writers children, the threat of man-eating beasts, and reading their new fairy tales to an audience of the deeds of wicked witches and demons have parents and staff ! never seemed so tame as they have today!

Recycled Elves: Fairy Tale Do-Overs

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Copyright 2011 by 826 National

the really cool party

A (royal figure or celebrity) and (hero or heroine) (relatives) turns (hero or heroine) . But the fairy (better article of clothing) it so that (hero or heroine) will lose their (better article of clothing) falls in love with (royal figure or celebrity) , but (hero or heroine) time and rushes out at midnight before telling (royal figure or celebrity) they are. However, (royal figure or celebrity) and goes to find the person who fits the (kind of party) . Definitely not the evil (better article of clothing) Eventually, (royal figure or celebrity) and they live (adverb) ever after. finds (hero or heroine) (relatives) ! goes over the guest list to the (hero or heroine) who forgets about (noun #1) s lame (article of clothing) has made (his/her) are invited to come. A fairy (noun #1) into hosts a (kind of party) evil and

at midnight. The

Copyright 2011 by 826 National

the breakfast bandit

A family of (creature #1, plural) the (plural) of (food) cools. A young (same food) walking through the woods and spies the (dwelling) s (creature #1) mama (creature #1) but the baby (creature #1) just right, and the (creature #2) When the family of (creature #1, plural) find (creature #2) chase (creature #2) away! asleep and come back, they s (same food) eats it right up. s (same food) is (same food) is too cold, is too hot, the (creature #2) . The papa is .Each one has their own (container) . One day, they go for a walk while their live in a (noun) in