As a little girl, I read fairy tales.
I enjoyed Walt Disney’s animated version of Cinderella and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty too … and even embraced the updated version of Beauty and the Beast and Rapunzel. (Tangled? Loved it and laughed through it.)
So maybe it’s no surprise fairy tales show up in my second novel, Catch a Falling Star (Howard Books, May 2013.) There’s more to a fairy tale than the happily ever after ending … we just need to take the time to discover what the “more” is. To uncover the lessons being learned by the heroine — the hero too — and see how they apply to us.
Lessons like: how courage takes you places you never imagined (Beauty and the Beast); good triumphing over evil may look magical — but it’s much, much more than that (Sleeping Beauty); the value of iron skillets (Tangled) …
Gotcha!
The deeper truth of Tangled? For me, it was not letting someone else keep me from my dreams.
In Your Words: What was your favorite fairy tale? Besides the happily ever after, what lesson did you learn from the make-believe story that sticks with you today?
I’m over at Ashley Clark’s blog today. Well, not just me. She interviewed Allison Denmark, too, the heroine of Wish You Were Here!
Comments 9
Beth, I love, love, and love your quote of the day. Although I haven’t brushed up recently on my childhood fairytales, it seems to me that the story of Hansel & Gretel sticks in my mind as a favorite: stories of survival against the odds were a big encouragement to me. Still is!
What a fabulous delicious quote–thanks. As a kid there were so many classics it was hard to decide. Several toprunners were Rapunzel letting down her long hair and the princess who spun nettles into (something) to become a swan again I think. I need to revisit some of those and make sure my grandchildren know that sense of wonderful anything-is-possible mystery. Thanks.
I loved all the fairy tales, but will settle on Beauty and Beast for today. That fairy tale taught me that appearances can be deceiving. Back then I wouldn’t have put it that way…probably thought sometimes people are as mean as they look. 😉
What a fun post, and I laughed out loud about the iron skillet. Love that movie, and the lesson you took from it. 🙂
As a girl, I loved the fairy tale of Snow White. Somehow, the ability to stay sweet and focus on helping others even when things were so rough (and she was being pursued by an evil stepmother!) always inspired me.
Today, I’d say my favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. Probably for the same reason Pat did. Love the story and the movie. 🙂
Belle gets one strong vote from me. Maybe Thumbelina too.
The fairy tale theme throughout makes me even more excited to dive in to your book 2.
I LOVED Disney movies growing up. Tangled is AWESOME (totally just watched it the other day…).
One of my faves was The Little Mermaid. I think one great lesson is the value of friendships. True friends stick with you no matter what (even if it means nearly being cooked by a crazy French chef…). And you should rely on them. 😉
I loved the lesson in Cinderella. Let’s face it, many people in her position would have developed a “victim mentality” and not even thought a different life would be possible. She kept her focus on what she wanted her life to be like and all the positive things in the world instead of dwellimg on the negatives of her situation. That small detail makes all the difference in life!
Love that quote!! I think my favorite has to be Cinderella. It’s that rags to riches, everybody can become a Princess theme that gets me – but mostly, I think it speaks to the ‘anything is possible with a little faith’ message that lies within all of us. If you’re willing, even for a moment, to suspend your belief that pumpkins don’t turn into gilded coaches, mice don’t speak and Fairy Godmother’s really don’t exist….well…just about anything can happen. 🙂 And since you mentioned movies, I haven’t seen Tangled yet, but my all time ever fairy tale movie is Enchanted. And yeah, I sing. 🙂
I’ve always loved fairytales, especially the Disney kind. Beauty and the Beast was my favorite, until I watched Tangled. I agree, I learned the deep importance of not letting someone else manipulate me with their own selfish desires (ew, that sounds horrible), but it happens far too often, even from well meaning family members. I’m sure I’ve tried it with my husband a time or two. God asks us to be selfless – as hard as that is sometimes – and He wants us to look past other people when they are trying to stop us from following the dreams He has placed in our hearts.