Seven years ago, in a little town in Michigan, before his first picture book was even published, I met Josh Funk at a #nErDcampMI event. Reconnecting yearly at NerdCamp, and bonding over sharing a birth year and love of picture books, it has been a delight to follow Josh’s career.

Today, 18 picture books later(!), I am thrilled to host Josh for a fantastic GUEST POST (not to be missed!) on how he writes twisted tales along with the COVER REVEAL of the next book in the It’s NOT… a Fairy Tale series: It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs.

If you don’t already know all of these titles, make sure you check them out soon! I love a good twisted tale – I even did a themed recommendation list for the genre earlier this school year! Josh has been a huge supporter of #ClassroomBookADay from the very beginning, and his books have often been recommended.

In the It’s NOT… a Fairy Tale series Josh adds the perspective of characters who question the narrator trying to hold them to the constraints of the classic tales. Paired with Edwardian Taylor’s exuberant, cartoonish illustrations, they are a joy to read and share. I have the best memories of Julys past sitting in the lobby of a hotel with fellow Nerdy friends doing some extremely entertaining readers theater readings of the upcoming book from Josh’s laptop so we could all get a sneak peek. And there was never a lack of laughter or joy. Sharing these books with kids elicits much of the same amusement.

Coming 10.25.22… It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs!

In this fairy tale mashup, a fourth little pig attempts to usurp storytelling duties from the narrator, causing the beloved tale to veer off course into chaos.

Welcome to the blog, Josh!

It’s good to “see” you again. I’m eager to hear your insights into how you take classic tales & twist them for the entertainment of all. And I know one of my 3rd grade teachers, who is doing a unit on twisting classic tales right now, will be especially thrilled to have this to share with our students. Thank you for visiting & letting me reveal the super fun cover of It’s NOT The Three Little Pigs! I particularly love the hot air balloon.

Hey, Jillian! Thanks so much for letting me visit and share some big news – the cover of the 4th (!!) book in the It’s Not a Fairy Tale series that Edwardian Taylor and I have been working on.

I thought I’d also share a little about how (and why) I write fractured fairy tales. (by “I thought” I mean that Jillian suggested this might be useful to educators and students who teach and write fractured fairy tales … and I agreed because Jillian knows her stuff)

Start by asking “What if …?”

One of my favorite prompts that fits almost any situation is asking the “What if?” question – and then writing a story about what follows.

What if … the letter R disappeared from existence?
What if … my pen pal was a dragon?
What if … there was only one drop of syrup left in the bottle?

This also works incredibly well for fracturing fairy tales.

What if … Little Red Riding Hood was a pencil?
What if … The Three Little Pigs were ninjas?
What if … Cinderella lived in space?

Now hold that thought.

Bad Choice Make Good Stories

I learned this five word lesson from author Erin Dionne (who even wrote a craft book with this title).

When characters make bad choices and that leads to conflict and tension (and usually more bad choices). Without conflict and tension, a story is not really a story – it’s just a bunch of stuff that happens. And often kind of boring.

But I’d always noticed that characters in fairy tales often make really bad choices. Choices so bad that they’re almost unbelievable and unrealistic – in a ‘doesn’t make sense a character would ever do that’ kind of way. For example:

If a giant beanstalk grew in your backyard overnight, what would be the first thing you’d do?

Climb the beanstalk all the way to the clouds, break into a giant’s home, and steal gold from the giant or
Call a gardener.

I’d probably go with b.

If you lived in the woods your entire life, don’t you think you’d know that if you dropped breadcrumbs on the ground, animals would probably eat them? I mean, really?!

And maybe worst of all, if you walked into your grandmother’s house and in your grandmother’s bed was a furry, four-legged, talking wolf, wouldn’t you know it wasn’t your grandmother? Obviously you would.

Put it all together

So if we need bad choices to make a good story, but not these bad choices, what can we do? Ask “What if …?”

What if … the characters in the fairy tale were smart and didn’t want to make the traditional bad choices?

What if … the bad choices in OUR story are made by the narrator instead of the smart fairy tale characters?

For example:

What if … the bad choice is the narrator encouraging Jack to steal from a giant, but Jack doesn’t want to?

What if … the bad choice is the narrator trying to get Hansel and Gretel to drop breadcrumbs in the woods, but they won’t because “who drops breadcrumbs on the ground during a famine?”?

What if … the bad choice is the narrator trying to convince Little Red that a wolf is actually her grandmother?

In short, I’ve essentially flipped the format of the story and made the unseen narrator the main character and the one who makes mistakes and (possibly) learns a lesson.

I also added lots of other twists like making the giant a vegan named Fred, introducing a unicorn friend to Gretel and Hansel, having Captain Hook fill in for an ill wolf in Little Red’s story, and more.

And now for the big news!

So what’s the deal with It’s Not the Three Little Pigs? What bad choices will the narrator make in this fractured fairy tale? (and what other silly twists are added?)

Here’s what the publisher says:

Meet the three (ahem—four!) little pigs as they convince the narrator to tell a slightly different version of their fairy tale:

First there’s Alan, the one pig in the bunch who is actually a builder. He’s got a BIG problem with building a home out of flimsy straw. Next there’s Alfred, who wants to be an actor and wouldn’t dream of getting his hands dirty. Then we have Alvin, whose dream is to be . . . a pumpkin. Last but not least is Alison, the fourth pig who is ready to bring some flair to this story, if only she can get the narrator to agree to a few changes. . . . And what about that wolf?

Grab your jet-packs and get ready for this rollicking retelling of the popular tale.

Thanks so much for letting me stop by, Jillian!