YA Classic Retellings

YA adaptations or stories inspired from classic tales including fairy tales, fables, and classical literature. Not a complete or exhaustive list. *The Young Adult Collection is made up of books for a wide age range (12-18 years old) and includes a variety of different topics and interests. Not all titles will be appropriate for all readers.*

Showing 1 - 20 of 52  There are a total of 196 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "An arrow to the moon"
Star rating for An arrow to the moon
Description:
"A lyrical and magical novel about two teens who fall in love despite their families being caught in a bitter rivalry."--
Book cover for "Bad girls never say die"
Star rating for Bad girls never say die
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In this gender-flipping reimagining of S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" set in 1964 Houston, Evie must redefine what it means to be a bad girl and rethink everything she knows about loyalty after she is saved from the unimaginable by a good girl from the "right" side of the tracks.
Book cover for "Being Mary Bennet"
Star rating for Being Mary Bennet
Author:
Description:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that every bookworm secretly wishes to be Lizzy Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. A less acknowledged truth is that Mary Bennet might be a better fit. For Marnie Barnes, realizing she's a Mary Bennet is devastating. But she's determined to reinvent herself, so she enlists the help of her bubbly roommate and opens up to the world. And between new friends, a very cute boy, and a rescue pup named Sir Pat, Marnie...
Book cover for "The Boneless Mercies"
Star rating for The Boneless Mercies
Description:
Four female mercenaries known as Boneless Mercies, weary of roaming Vorseland, ignored and forgotten until they are needed for mercy killings, decide to seek glory by going after a legendary monster in this reimagining of Beowulf.
Book cover for "Bookish and the beast"
Star rating for Bookish and the beast
Series:
Once upon a con volume 3.
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
In this adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast," the teenaged star of a popular science fiction movie franchise hides out in a small town, following a tabloid scandal, and meets the bookish Rosie Thorne who is still grieving over her mother's death.
Book cover for "Bright ruined things"
Star rating for Bright ruined things
Description:
Growing up on a island where the powerful Prosper family controls both the magic and the spirits who inhibit it, eighteen-year-old Mae longs for magic of her own to impress her best friend Coco and her crush Miles, but when the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae and her friends start to the unravel the mysteries of the island and a secret from Mae's past. Loosely based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and set in the 1920s.
Book cover for "Bright smoke, cold fire"
Star rating for Bright smoke, cold fire
Series:
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Bound by her family's magical heritage to punish their enemies, Juliet nearly loses her life trying to execute her beloved Romeo for killing her cousin, a situation that compels her guardian, Paris, to uncover dark secrets about their walled city.
Book cover for "The Circus Rose"
Star rating for The Circus Rose
Description:
A retelling of Snow White and Rose Red in which teenage twins Ivory and Rosie battle evil religious extremists to save their loves and their circus family.
Book cover for "A clash of steel"
Star rating for A clash of steel
Author:
Series:
Description:
Xiang and Anh--ages sixteen and seventeen--hunt the South China Sea for the lost treasure of the fabled pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao.

10. Cursed

Book cover for "Cursed"
Star rating for Cursed
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave...That is, until Red Paladins slaughter her entire village, and Nimue's fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people's only hope.
Book cover for "Dark and deepest red"
Star rating for Dark and deepest red
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Olivas feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fevers history...

12. Darling

Book cover for "Darling"
Star rating for Darling
Description:
"On Wendy Darling's first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He's dizzying, captivating, beautiful--so she agrees to join him for a night on the town. Wendy thinks they're heading to a party, but instead they're soon running in the city's underground. She makes friends--a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies--the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister...
Book cover for "Daughter of Sparta"
Star rating for Daughter of Sparta
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Guided by the handsome Apollo, Daphne journeys across ancient Greece to recover nine mysterious items stolen from Mount Olympus before the gods lose their powers and throw the mortal world into chaos in this reinterpretation of the Greek myth.
Book cover for "Debating Darcy"
Star rating for Debating Darcy
Description:
"A life-long speech competitor, Leela loves nothing more than crushing the competition, all while wearing a smile. But when she meets the incorrigible Firoze Darcy, a debater from an elitist private school, Leela can't stand him. Unfortunately, he'll be competing in the state league, so their paths are set to collide. But why attempt to tolerate Firoze when Leela can one-up him? The situation is more complicated than Leela anticipated, though, and...
Book cover for "Endless water, starless sky"
Star rating for Endless water, starless sky
Series:
Description:
In the last days of the world, the walls of Viyara are still falling and the dead are rising faster than ever. Juliet is trapped, ordered by Lord Luco of the Mahyanai to sacrifice the remaining members of her family, the Catresou, to stave off the end fo the world. Though they're certain his plan is useless, Juliet and her former friend Runajo must comply tie Lord Ineo's wishes unless they can discover a different, darker path to protecting Viyara....
Book cover for "Flame in the mist"
Star rating for Flame in the mist
Series:
Average Rating:
4.9 stars
Description:
The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko is targeted by bandits who wish to stop her arranged marriage, a situation that compels her to infiltrate the gang, disguised as a boy, to track down the person responsible for the target on her back.
Book cover for "For darkness shows the stars"
Star rating for For darkness shows the stars
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"Elliot North fights to save her family's land and her own heart in this post-apocalyptic reimaging of Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'."-- It's been generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology. Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago she refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing...
Book cover for "Forest of a thousand lanterns"
Star rating for Forest of a thousand lanterns
Series:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Beautiful eighteen-year-old Xifeng, raised by a cruel aunt who says the stars destine her to be Empress of Feng Lu, chooses to spurn the man who loves her and exploit the dark magic that can make her dream real.
Book cover for "Girl, serpent, thorn"
Star rating for Girl, serpent, thorn
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Soraya, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch, has lived eighteen years in the shadows but as her twin brother's wedding approaches, she faces choices with unimaginable consequences.
Book cover for "Great or nothing"
Star rating for Great or nothing
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"A reimagining of Little Women set in the spring of 1942, when the United States is suddenly embroiled in the Second World War, this story, told from each March sister's point of view, is one of grief, love, and self-discovery"--