Waking Beauty

Fractured fairy tales are all the rage. And why wouldn't they be? They're fun. We know the stories well, so we get all of the jokes. And since fairy tales reflect our inner dreams coming true, in a sense we're laughing at ourselves without realizing it. Now that's healthy.

Waking Beauty, by Leah Wilcox and illustrated by Lydia Monks, ponders how Sleeping Beauty would have gone if Prince Charming wasn't a very good listener or very girl savvy. The prince believes he hears a dragon in a castle, but is disappointed to find "a snoring girl in bed."

When some fairies tell the prince that this girl's been asleep a hundred years, he figures he knows just what to do. He screams in her face, "WAKE UP, LAZYBONES!." When that doesn't work he tries everything he can think of-jumping on the bed, throwing water on her (he just makes mud out of 100 years worth of dust), even shooting her out of a cannon.

When he finally listens long enough, he is momentarily still hesitant because he is afraid of girls. But the prince does it, upon which Beauty punches him for not asking first.

But don't worry. It's a fairy tale. Of course there'sa happy ending.