Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad

Reviews

Mat Tobin (@Mat_at_Brookes)

. Looking forward to adding it to my library in school and finding out what different children think of it. For me the mix of beautiful illustrations and text work harmonious. Huge praise must also go both to the talents of Freya Hartas and the book's editorial team.

K. Barrett

As part of the 'Fairy Tales Gone Bad' series, Coelho and Hartas join up for a deliciously dark (sprinkled with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour) retelling of the Grimm variant. -Zombierella was longlisted for the UK Diverse Book Awards 2021, and with it being written by award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, and beautifully illustrated by Freya Hartas, I can absolutely understand why. -I think Zombierella is perfect for younger readers who like a bit of gruesomeness to their tales - those who like Horrible Histories will no doubt like this story.

Caroline

This updated fairy tale has a gothic twist that will be perfect for a Halloween read. All of which is penned in the free verse that drips with cunningly dark imagery and design yet, somehow, with a lightness of touch that will leave the reader grinning widely.

Hayley Westwood

-𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞,𝐒𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲. There would not be many 8 yr olds who could access it independently so definitely one to read with an adult. I planned to use as a class reader for 7/8 year olds but might use it for teaching vocabulary instead. Yet whether life as a Zombie is as bad as it sounds is something for the reader to decide.

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐞,𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲. A twist on Cinderella which is possibly closer to the original telling than the Disney version most children know. I especially liked the amusing twists on the classic tale, like Zombierella leaving behind a foot instead of a glass slipper.

The three fake sisters chopping off their own feet, in an effort to convince the prince that the foot belongs to them, is very reminiscent of the original Brothers Grimm version of the tale, where the sisters chopped off toes and parts of their heels in an effort to make the slipper fit. We find her living at home with her FAKE beautiful sisters and step-mother who treat her as badly as the original Cinders was treated. Sometimes the verse commands the page leaving space for single, soft vignettes but at other times smashing double-page spreads blast off the page with space for a punchy, single word of prose. -𝐙𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬,𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬,𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬,𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥.

There are many things to love about this fractured fairytale. The immediate appeal for me was Coelho's cold embrace of those gory elements which we associate with the earlier Grimm tellings. The illustrations make those gory moments even funnier and there is a warmth and lightness to a cast who are mostly dead - that's quite an achievement. Cinderella, in this version, inherits her name from carrying her mother's ashes around with her in a locket.