Spring Blog Carnival: Reboot Lounge with Marissa Meyer

Posted 7 May, 2012 by Danny in Blog, Danny, Featured, Giveaways, Pushy / 44 Comments

Welcome to the

This is an exciting event hosted by Lori from Pure Imagination, Angela from Reading Angel, Candace from Candace’s Book Blog. The event goes the whole week May 7th – May 13th.

There are more than 50 blogs participating and on each blog you will find a amazing challenge, awesome prizes and tons of fun!!! Take some popcorn, a soft drink and  hop through the Carnival, visiting the other blogs and completing the challenges! You will find links to all participating blogs at the end of this post!

So we here at the Bookworms welcome you to:

Welcome and Refresh Yourself at the Reboot Lounge! Here everything is about re-tellings! And we are incredibly excited because Marissa Meyer helped created this very fun challenge for you! Even more, we have Marissa Meyer and Jackson Pearce for interviews this week – it will be an exciting week here at the Bookworms!!

May 7th – Reboot Challenge with Marissa Meyer
May 9th – Interviews with Jackson Pearce,  Author of Sweetly, Sisters Read and
Interview with Marissa Meyer, Author of Cinder

Challenge Rules:

  • Read Tally the Tales from Marissa Meyer  and find as many re-tellings she has hidden in this story!
  • Enter the Google Doc and list all the fairy tales you found – each right fairy tale listed will get you an entry!
  • no additional Entries

And if you like your time here in the Lounge, you might consider subscribing via Email, RSS, Twitter or Facebook and… Tweet – cause the more the more fun we all have!! Of course you can discuss in the comments which tales you found, because we can promise, Ms. Meyer hid tons of them!!!  We’ll reveal the full list when the winners are selected.

Grand Prize: 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer plus AWESOME SWAG, Sweetly and Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce and Beastly by Alex Flynn

Second Prize: 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer audiobook (gifted via audible)

(This Giveaway is provided by The Bookworms and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

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Tally the Tales story by Marissa Meyer

Once upon a time, there was a husband and wife who desperately wanted a child, but after many years of marriage they remained childless and miserable, and so they each threw themselves into their work. The husband was a gifted craftsman: he had made a doll who gave advice when it was fed, a pair of shining silver hands, and a corset that could grow tighter and tighter until its wearer had the most perfect hourglass shape in the world (or, you know, she suffocated and died). The wife was an expert gardener: she grew peas firm enough to bruise a girl in her sleep, and stalks of string beans that stretched to the sky, and abundant wildflowers that could tempt even the most obedient little girl from the straight path to grandmother’s.

One day, a woman came into the husband’s shop in tears. She said, “The king wants to marry me because he believes I can spin straw into gold, but it’s impossible! He will surely kill me when he finds out the truth.” The husband thought, “Aha, here is how I can get a child.” So he designed a spinning wheel that could spin straw into gold, and for payment he made her promise to give him her firstborn child.

Meanwhile, his wife was tending her garden when a poor man came to her in tears. “My pregnant wife is craving salad greens that can be found only in your garden. If she doesn’t get it, she will surely die!” The wife thought, “Aha, here is how I can get a child.” So she told the man he could take as many greens as he liked, so long as he gave her the child once it was born.

In this way, the husband and wife got their children—a brother and sister who they called Hansel and Gretel. Sadly, the wife died soon thereafter, as these stories are apt to go, and where she was buried grew a beautiful hazel bush which soon became home to two white pigeons. It wasn’t long before her husband remarried, but he did not choose his second wife wisely. As little Gretel grew up, she became beautiful beyond compare (despite a particular taste for gingerbread houses), and her stepmother became very jealous. When a wealthy merchant asked for Gretel’s hand in marriage, her stepmother paid little heed to his nasty reputation, and married Gretel off without a second thought. Gretel left home with nothing but the dress she wore and the two white pigeons trailing behind.

Heartbroken for the loss of his sister, Hansel set out on an adventure. He walked many miles and soon came across a handsome cat who wore fine leather boots. “Hello,” said the cat, with a mouse tail dangling from his lips, “I have just slain an ogre and made my master rich beyond reason, and now I am looking for a new master.”

“I have no need of a cat,” said Hansel, and traveled on.

A while later, he came across a stream, and out jumped a flounder. “Hello,” said the fish, “I am a wish-granting fish and can make your wildest dreams come true. I can even make you the Pope.”

“I have no need of a fish,” said Hansel, and traveled on.

A while later, he came across an enormous bear. “Hello,” said the bear, “I am a prince in disguise and I’m not very good at being a bear. I do, however, know how to make porridge that is just right.” Hansel thought, “Aha, a chef-bear would be an excellent traveling companion.” And so they became friends, and Hansel decided they should go pay his sister a visit.

Meanwhile, poor Gretel was quite miserable. Her husband gave her silly chores, such as gathering eggs from a goose whose shiny feathers stuck to her like glue, and sewing clothes out of invisible silk, and making shirts out of aster flowers to be worn by his prized swans. Her only friends were the two pigeons who lived in the tower rafters and two servant elves who were expert cobblers—no matter how many times Gretel went out while her husband was away and danced her slippers to shreds, the elves could always make her a new pair lickety-split.

One day, Gretel went in search for the elves, and came across a locked door. Fishing out the keys her husband had given her, she opened it, and gasped. The room was filled with the bodies of her husband’s previous wives!

Gretel shut the door and ran, and the moment her husband saw her terror, he knew what she’d seen. He chased her to the tallest parapet of the castle, where Gretel screamed for help. At the gates of the castle, Hansel and the chef-bear heard Gretel’s screams and rushed to the parapet just in time to see the pigeons coming to Gretel’s rescue. They pecked out the merchant’s eyes and Gretel pushed him off the tower, into the brambles below. When the brambles realized this man was definitely not a prince, they killed him instantly. Or slowly, whichever you prefer.

The bear was so impressed with Gretel’s gumption, he fell to one knee. “I may look big and scary, but I swear I’ll make a good husband and make you perfect porridge every day, if you will have me.” He sounded so sincere that Gretel couldn’t say no, and when she kissed him, the bear did indeed turn into a handsome prince.

And they all lived happily and had many more adventures until the end of their days.

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Seriously!! This was phenomenal! Marissa Meyer is a genius: Thank you so much for contributing this awesome tale for our readers!

So, did you find some re-tellings?? Some are pretty easy and some are a little more complicated! We hope you have fun hunting down all the fairy tales Marissa was inspired by for this tale…

Please leave us a comment, we are excited to see which Tales you find and …. *winks* we might help you finding some more!

 

Enter Via Google Doc 

And if you’ve enjoyed your time here at the Lounge, you’ll definitely want to check out the other awesometastic challenges:

Much Love and …get lost in a book

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Danny

Obsessive Reader by Night - Scientist at Day! You can also find me on goodreads. I'd love to get to know you so, don't be shy and say Hello!

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44 Responses to “Spring Blog Carnival: Reboot Lounge with Marissa Meyer”

  1. margie c {the bumble girl}

    This has to be one of the most funnest challenges I have ever played along with! Marissa Meyer really outdid herself here, great story 🙂
    I managed to think of 15 fairy-tale retellings here, lol! I hope I at least got half of them right considering how much I love fairytales!!!
    Thanks much!!!
    margie c {the bumble girl} recently posted..Spring Blog Carnival: "The Cloud of Make Believe!"My Profile

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    Danny 5/8/2012

    Thank you !! So happy you liked it!!! Marissa definitely is made of awesome!!
    15 is great!! (but there are more hehe)
    Danny recently posted..BEA2U – The Bookworms at BEA 2011 & GiveawayMy Profile

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  3. Sam @ A Journey Through Pages

    Most enjoyable read ever. I think I got most of them, maybe missed a few. It has increased my respect for Marissa Meyers, she knows her fairytales and she knows A LOT of them.
    Sam @ A Journey Through Pages recently posted..Blog Tour: On Demon Wings by Karina Halle Author Guest PostMy Profile

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    Danny 5/8/2012

    *claps hands* Awesome!!
    Marissa Meyer is a genius not only took she up our idea for this Challenge she made it so much more than what we expected, she blew our mind!!
    Danny recently posted..BEA2U – The Bookworms at BEA 2011 & GiveawayMy Profile

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  9. Debz

    That was way too much fun! I found 20, but I know that I still missed a couple–guess I should keep studying that big old fairy tale book! I don’t want to spoil the fun for everyone, but I will say that there are a couple that only the most fairy tale obsessed will spot!
    Debz recently posted..Book Review: Delirium by Lauren OliverMy Profile

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    Danny 5/8/2012

    20!!!! Woow you are awesome!!!! But, hey go head and name some you think are not in everyone minds would be fun to see what you picked and if anyone else knows them!! I might certainly not lool
    Danny recently posted..BEA2U – The Bookworms at BEA 2011 & GiveawayMy Profile

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    Debz 5/8/2012

    Okay then–here are a couple that aren’t that well known: Vasilissa the Fair, The Girl Without Hands, The Wild Swans, and Bluebeard. Those actually required a bit of digging to find! Hope everyone is having fun!
    Debz recently posted..Fairy Tale Giveaway!My Profile

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  21. Riv Re

    That was so fun! I read the story twice, and found a total of 23 (with a few repeats, and a few that were mentioned above). Marissa is a genius, that was amazing!

    I don’t read retellings much, but one of my favorite books is The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith). It’s kind of old, but it’s short and brilliant. I’ve probably got half of that book memorized.

    Thanks for the giveaway! This was awesome!
    Riv Re recently posted..Blog Me MAYbe: African SwallowsMy Profile

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  23. Sonia

    Wow, I am rusty on my fairytales! 🙂 I guess I’ll need to go dig up those ones I used to read when I was younger…

    Marissa is AMAZING. Of course, I already knew that from reading Cinder, but seriously! That was just awesome and so much fun to read through. Thanks so much for the giveaway and fun booth!
    Sonia recently posted..Black Heart by Holly BlackMy Profile

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  26. Lacey T

    Oh wow that was so great! I found so many, some of them I didn’t even remember until now 🙂 I love fairy tale retellings. I’m dying to read Cinder too! I’ve heard so many great things about it.

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