Fairy Tales of Fearless Girls Read online

  Thumbelina chuckled, and the chuckle became a laugh, and the laugh was swept up in the wind and blew its way to a field mouse who was gathering the last acorns from under another oak tree for its winter store. The laugh made the little mouse twitch its nose, and it walked toward the sound to find Thumbelina shivering in the withered oak leaves.

  “What a lovely laugh you have,” said the mouse. “But, my goodness, you’re freezing! Come with me and I’ll make you a cup of dandelion tea.” And it took Thumbelina to its little cottage made of mud and twigs on the side of a mound.

  It was cozy and warm inside, and the mouse’s pantry was stocked with delicious berries and nuts it had gathered during summer.

  The field mouse made Thumbelina a lovely cup of dandelion tea, in an acorn cupule. “Oh, thank you,” said Thumbelina, who was wrapped up in a quilt stuffed with dried petals. “I feel so much better now.”

  The field mouse loved Thumbelina’s laugh and thought it would be helpful to have an extra pair of paws around the house over the winter. The mouse had many family members coming to stay, and it was hard to keep things tidy.

  Thumbelina gratefully agreed to stay. All winter, she swept the cottage floor with a thistle broom, prepared meals, and told jokes to the many mice that came to visit. It was jolly, but Thumbelina sometimes felt a twinge of secret sadness.

  They are all so happy, these mice, being mice together. Will I ever find the other tiny children? Wherever could they be hiding?

  One day Thumbelina had stepped outside the cottage into the snow to empty the walnut trash shells when she saw a swallow lying on the ground, panting for breath.

  “Oh my,” cried Thumbelina. “What’s happened to you?”

  The swallow could hardly talk. Thumbelina leaned in close. “I couldn’t keep up with the other birds flying to warmer lands,” it whispered. “The winds were too much for me, and I had to land. Now I fear I will never rejoin my family.”

  “Don’t worry,” Thumbelina said, stroking its wing. “I will help you become strong again.”

  The swallow was much too large for the mouse’s cottage, so Thumbelina, using all her strength, pushed it into the hollow of a nearby tree. And every day after that, when she left the cottage to empty the walnut shells, she would visit the swallow, feeding and encouraging it. (The swallow’s favorite joke was: What do you give a bird who is not feeling well? Tweetment!) As the snow began to melt in the meadow, the swallow regained its strength and its spirit.

  4.

  ONE DAY THUMBELINA noticed that the air no longer had a chill to it. She saw that the snow had all melted away, and that tiny flowers were beginning to appear—snowdrops and blue-and-white hyacinths, pushing through the cold ground.

  “Look,” Thumbelina said to the swallow. “Spring is coming!”

  “And look at me,” chirped the swallow, flapping its wings and hovering in the air. “I am flying! I am well again! I’m ready to find my family,” said the swallow. “Come with me! You might find your family too.”

  Thumbelina shook with excitement. “Yes, let’s go!” She dashed inside to hug the surprised field mouse goodbye, and then she climbed onto the swallow’s back. The swallow took off and they soared up into the sky.

  Thumbelina could scarcely believe her eyes. They flew over the meadow she’d spent so many months exploring in just seconds, then over another meadow, and another… then some woods, and even an ocean, until at last, days later, they reached another land. As the swallow began to descend, Thumbelina could see that it was a land full of flowers.

  “My flower!” she shouted. “They are all like the flower I was born in—and look, there are so many, and so many different colors: blue ones, pink ones, purple ones!”

  The swallow swooped lower still, then landed on a tuft of grass in the middle of a flower field. Thumbelina climbed off the swallow’s back. The moment she stepped onto the ground, she felt strangely at home.

  “Hello!” she bellowed. “Is there anyone here?”

  Somehow, Thumbelina just knew that there would be—and, sure enough, little girls and boys started to emerge from behind the stalks of the flowers. Tiny girls and boys just like Thumbelina.

  “Hello,” said a little girl, stepping out from a yellow flower.

  And, “Hello,” said a boy from a red flower. “I love your wings.”

  “My what?” said Thumbelina.

  “Your wings,” repeated the boy.

  “But I don’t have…,” began Thumbelina, as she reached behind her and felt between her shoulder blades. “Oh my goodness, I do have wings! Look, swallow!”

  “Yes, Thumbelina,” said the swallow. “We can fly on adventures together.”

  “Oh yes, let’s,” said Thumbelina. “I will show you my garden and my friends there.”

  “I can’t wait,” said the swallow. “But now that you have found your family, it is time for me to get back to mine.” And with that, the swallow flapped its wings and swooped up into the sky.

  My family, realized Thumbelina as she waved farewell to the swallow. Yes, this is my family!

  Thumbelina laughed, and it was with such joy that, to her surprise, it caused her wings to flutter. This made her laugh even more, which made her wings flutter even more…. The other children started laughing too, and their wings began to flutter, and they all rose up into the sky. Thumbelina was flying!

  “Hey,” said Thumbelina, flying up to one boy, “do you know why fairies don’t live under toadstools?”

  “No,” said the boy. “Why?”

  “Because… there’s not mushroom!” cried Thumbelina delightedly, rising even higher into the sky.

  The boy laughed. The other children laughed too, and Thumbelina beamed. A chorus of laughter echoed throughout the flower field as the flower boys and girls flew higher and higher into the sky.

  And they all lived happily ever after.

  About the Author

  SUSANNAH McFARLANE is the author, creator, and publisher of some of Australia’s most successful children’s book series. She is best known as the author of the bestselling EJ12 Girl Hero and EJ Spy School series, which have sold over one million copies. Susannah also created and cowrote (with Louise Park, as Mac Park) the hugely popular D-Bot Squad and Boy vs Beast series; wrote the Little Mates series of alphabet books; was series editor for Stuff Happens, about the everyday challenges boys face; and wrote Bold Tales of Brave-Hearted Boys.

  This beautiful treasury features artwork from four leading illustrators: Beth Norling, Claire Robertson, Lucinda Gifford, and Sher Rill Ng.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Susannah-McFarlane

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition October 2020

  Text copyright © 2018 by Susannah McFarlane

  Cover illustrations copyright 2020: Cinderella © Lucinda Gifford; Thumbelina © Sher Rill Ng;

  Rapunzel © Beth Norling; Little Red Riding Hood and wolf © Claire Robertson; birds © Bipsun/Shutterstock;

  squirrels © Potapov Alexander/Shutterstock; vines © Natalyon/Shutterstock; grass © NadzeyaShanchuk/Shutterstock.

  Illustrations on pages 1-30 & pi copyright © 2018 by Beth Norling

  Illustrations on pages 31-58 & pv copyright © 2018 by Claire Robertson

  Illustrations on pages 59-88, pvi & p 120 copyright © 2018 by Lucinda Gifford

  Illustrations on pages 89-118 & pvii copyright © 2018 by
Sher Rill Ng

  Originally published in Australia in 2018 by Allen & Unwin as Fairytales for Feisty Girls

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact

  Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

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  Jacket designed by Sandra Nobes and Karin Paprocki

  Interior designed by Sandra Nobes

  Art Direction by Sandra Nobes

  Jacket illustrations copyright 2020: Cinderella © Lucinda Gifford; Thumbelina © Sher Rill Ng; Rapunzel © Beth Norling; Little Red Riding Hood and wolf © Claire Robertson; birds © Bipsun/Shutterstock; squirrels © Potapov Alexander/Shutterstock; vines © Natalyon/Shutterstock; grass © NadzeyaShanchuk/Shutterstock

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: McFarlane, Susannah, author. | Norling, Beth, illustrator. |

  Robertson, Claire, 1972- illustrator. | Gifford, Lucinda, illustrator. | Ng, Sher Rill, illustrator.

  Title: Fairy tales of fearless girls / Susannah McFarlane ;

  Beth Norling, Lucinda Gifford, Claire Robertson, Sher Rill Ng.

  Description: First Aladdin hardcover edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2020. |

  Originally published: Crows Nest, Australia : Allen & Unwin, 2018. | Audience: Ages 5-9. |

  Summary: Reimagines four classic fairy tales with a feminist twist.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020019072 (print) | LCCN 2020019073 (ebook) |

  ISBN 9781534473577 (hardback) | ISBN 9781534473584 (ebook)

  Subjects: CYAC: Fairy tales. | Conduct of life—Fiction. | Feminism—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ8 .M45787 Fai 2020 (print) | LCC PZ8 .M45787 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020019072