Cassie and Daurie give you two discussions for the price of one, as their exploration of A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz reveals a novel with Hansel and Gretel as the main characters, but a novel that isn't really a retelling of that classic story. So they pull in an old favorite and also look at how Hansel and Gretel was incorporated into Transformed: The Perils of the Frog Prince by Megan Morrison. They discuss what common elements tie all these stories together and what they have to do with the Oregon Trail.

Spoilers for the two novels listed above and also Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie a little bit. Content warning for gore and violence.

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This episode was edited by Brianna Jean.

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Cassie and Daurie begin Hansel and Gretel's era with the Cannon Movie Tales Hansel and Gretel featuring Helen Stoltzfus, Allison Brody, Sam Carter, Gene Morrill, Bo Patterson, and more. This movie pulls heavily from the Humperdinck opera, and features the acting talents of David Warner; Hugh Pollard; Nicola Stapleton; Emily Richard; and Cloris Leachman.

We discuss how Cassie is a lying liar with a bad memory, how music and camera work can foreshadow things that do not actually exist, how UNBELIEVEABLY creepy the fence children are, and more.

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

It's time to bid another farewell to the ultimate storyteller's tale and turn to a pair of siblings getting lost in the woods and finding a house of questionable building materials. Cassie and Laura start us off with our final thoughts on The Arabian Nights and how its walking red flag was handled overall. Then Cassie and Daurie begin a journey into an apparently overlooked classic, Hansel and Gretel. We talk through the plot of the story and the many questions it brings up, then we reveal the criteria we'll be using and which retellings we'll be talking about throughout the month.

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Cassie and Laura wrap up their The Arabian Nights era this week with a discussion of two of Cassie's favorite books of all time-- The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh. We discuss the refreshing approach of Shahrzad as a would-be assassin, loopholes within curse loopholes, impressive trope subversions, and the surprising thing these books have in common with Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Also, spoilers for Pirates of the Caribbean 3 a little bit, I guess?

Content warnings for this episode include murder, suicide, and pregnancy loss.

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Cassie and Laura discuss a looser retelling of The Arabian Nights this week -- A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston -- and touch on a variety of topics including our shared love of thread-based magic in fantasy, what kind of storytelling counts in a retelling of Shahrezad, and how the choice not to name any of the characters can be both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

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This episode was edited by Brianna Jean.

Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Cassie and Laura continue our Arabian Nights era with book one in the Once Upon a Time series from Simon Pulse -- The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey. There's a bit more chatter up top in this episode than usual, so if you want to get straight to the discussion and bypass Toddler Tales and the history of the Once Upon a Time series, skip to 10:55!

Laura and Cassie go off on several tangents during this discussion, but along the way, we do touch on how this novel captures the oral tradition feel inherent to Shahrazad, tricks for behavior that work on toddlers as well as spoiled kings, and how quickly public opinion can change, for better and for worse.

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Cassie and Laura kick off our Arabian Nights era with one of the earliest -- Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher. We get into the way she deftly weaves a story presenting complex topics in a way that is accessible for younger readers without talking down to them, how she represents the cycle of resentment and forgiveness, and discuss the ways we did have to stretch our suspension of disbelief once or twice.

Trigger warnings for this book include ableism and mentions of child abuse and suicide. Please read and listen responsibly.

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This episode was edited by Brianna Jean.

Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

It's time to bid another farewell to our second (riches to) rags to riches girlie and introduce ourselves to the ultimate storyteller Shahrazad, in any of the many many ways her name has been spelled. Cassie and Matt start us off with our final thoughts on The Goose Girl, including our ideas for how we would like to retell the story ourselves and how easy it is for Cassie to shoehorn Anonymous Penpals into any story. Then Cassie and Laura begin a journey into a new story, 1001 Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights. We talk through the plot of the story and the many questions it brings up, then we reveal the criteria we'll be using and which retellings we'll be talking about throughout the month.

Join our community! View all of the benefits of joining our Patreon including the Official Of Slippers and Spindles Book Club, exclusive polls, monthly bookmarks, Zoom hangouts, and these next two weeks only, a chance to win a copy of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher! https://patreon.com/ofslippersandspindles

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Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com