Fairy tales are big again.  With the release of Disney's Cinderella and the popularity of the TV show Once Upon a Time  and  the movies Maleficent and Into the Woods,  fairy tales are in the news again.  But these are not the stories you and I grew up with.  These are fairy tales with a twist.  They give the back story of the characters, tell what happens after "happily ever after" or people from our world are tossed into the fairy tale world.  And kids are eating them up.   Here's a sampling of some that you and your kids  might enjoy.

For Older Kids:

The Storybook of Legends from the Ever After High series by Shannon Hale
The children of fairy tale characters are groomed at Ever After High to fulfill their destiny - to follow in their parent's footeps and become the next "Snow White" or "Cinderella" or "Jack the Giant Killer".  But what if you DIDN'T want to become the next villianous evil Snow Queen?

The Wishing Spell from The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer
Twins Alexis and Connor are pulled into their grandmother's book of fairy tales.  They must find all the Wishing Spell ingredients, such as: a long golden hair, a glass slipper and a piece of Red Riding Hood's basket, in order to get home again.  It's bad enough that they have to steal these items, but someone else is also after the wishing spell.  And even stranger, characters from the bedtime stories their father used to tell them are showing up on their journey.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Hansel and Gretel were not children of a woodcutter, abandoned in the forest by their stepmother.  They were really the prince and princess of the Kingdom of Grimm who ran away when they found out that their father would (and did) kill them in order to bring a statue to life.  So they leave in order to find a family that will truly love them.  Here is their story with all the gory bits of the fairy tales left in.

And on a lighter note for the younger kids:

Fairest of All from the Whatever After series by Sarah Mlynowski
Abby and Jonah get sucked through a magic mirror  and step into Snow White's story.   But they accidentally mess it up when they  stop Snow White from eating the poisoned apple.  They save her life, but now, she'll never meet her Prince!

The Wide-Awake Princess by E. D. Baker
Annie is the only one left awake after her sister pricks her finger on the spindle and sends everyone to sleep.  But she'd NOT going to wait around for 100 years for everyone to wake up, so she sets out to find her sister's Prince so he can come kiss her and end the curse.   How hard can it be?

For more mixed up fairy tales, check out the list:  Children's Center Picks: Fairy Tales with a Twist.