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 47  There are a total of 198 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 "Ash & Bramble"
Star rating for Ash & Bramble
Series:
Ash & Bramble volume 1.
Description:
After Pin and Shoe escape from servitude in the Godmother's fortress, they learn that she has taken control of Story, which can warp the world around it, forcing people into its shape, and they decide to try to break out and create their own destinies in this tale that features many familiar characters.
Book cover for "Being Mary Bennet"
Star rating for Being Mary Bennet
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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 bone spindle"
Star rating for The bone spindle
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Description:
When she pricks her finger on a bone spindle, treasure hunter Fi is stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose, a prince under a sleeping curse, and must team up with a tough-as-dirt girl warrior to free the prince--and herself.
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 "The boy next story"
Star rating for The boy next story
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Description:
Rory likes Toby, but Toby likes Rory's sister Merrilee, even though Merrilee is already dating Toby's friend Fielding--and it's all about to get even more complicated at Reginald R. Hero High.
Book cover for "Briar Rose"
Star rating for Briar Rose
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Description:
The tale of Sleeping Beauty and the dark tale of the Holocaust twined together in a story of darkness and redemption. Rebecca has always loved listening to her grandmother's stories about Briar Rose. However, the old woman's astonishing and hard-to-believe admission that she "is" Briar Rose sets Rebecca on an unforgettable path of self-discovery that will change her life forever.
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 "Catherine"
Star rating for Catherine
Description:
In this retelling of "Wuthering Heights," Catherine explains how she fell in love with a brooding musician and left her family to return to him, and her daughter describes searching for her mother many years later.
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
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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.
Book cover for "The curse of the thirteenth fey"
Star rating for The curse of the thirteenth fey
Author:
Description:
Accident-prone, thirteen-year-old Gorse, the youngest fairy in her family, falls into a trap while on her way to the palace to bless the newborn princess, Talia, but arrives in time to give a gift which, although seemingly horrific, may prove to be a real blessing in this take-off on the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty.

13. Curses

Book cover for "Curses"
Star rating for Curses
Description:
Forced to live as a beast forever unless she agrees to marry a man of her mother's choosing before her 18th birthday, Merit Cravan joins forces with a con artist who's her only hope in finding the best match.

14. 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 "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
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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 "The fall"
Star rating for The fall
Description:
A retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' in which Madeline and her twin brother, Roderick, suffer from the Usher family illness but she hears the House talking to her, filling her dreams, controlling her actions, and ensuring shenever leaves the property.
Book cover for "Her dark curiosity"
Star rating for Her dark curiosity
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Description:
Juliet struggles to forget Dr. Moreau's horrific legacy only to confront what she fears is one of her father's murderous creations and her own worsening illness.
Book cover for "The initial insult"
Star rating for The initial insult
Series:
Initial insult volume 1.
Description:
"Tress Montors family used to mean something until she didnt have a family anymore. When her parents disappeared seven years ago while driving her best friend home, Tress lost everything...Felicity Turnado has it all: looks, money, and a secret. One misstep could send her tumbling from the top of the social ladder, and shes worked hard to make everyone forget that she was with the Montors the night they disappeared...But Tress has a plan. A Halloween...
Book cover for "Into the bloodred woods"
Star rating for Into the bloodred woods
Description:
On his deathbed King Tyran divides his land between his twin children, first-born Ursula, a werebear, and Albrecht; but Albrecht wants it all and makes war on his sister, killing her people and the werebeasts, becoming a tyrant to his own kingdom--but their family history is far more complicated and mysterious than he knows, and Ursula has powerful allies in the living forest that surrounds their lands, including her aunt Esme who has been in hiding...