Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Expanded edition with a new story: The duckling that was judged on its personal merits

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In Hansel and Greta (note the name change), Winterson gives us children in despair at the destruction of their forest to make way for a railway line. The antagonist is a nasty aunt called GreedyGuts, who says that “the point of life is to eat as much as possible, make as much money as possible, go on holiday as much as possible … buy two new cars every year, a jacuzzi in the garden, and a Luxury Level Executive Home… ” Hansel and Greta, of course, triumph, plant trees, and all is right with the world.

The author introduced the book by saying: "When they were first written, the stories on which the following tales are based certainly served their purpose-to entrench the patriarchy, to enstrange people from their own natural impulses, to demonize "evil and to "reward" and "objective" "good". However, much as we would like to, we cannot blame the Brother's Grimm for their insensitivity to womyn's issues, minority cultures, and the environment. Likewise, in the self-righteous Copenhagen of Hans Christian Anderson, the alienable rights of mermaids were hardly given a second thought. Garner, James Finn (August 1998). Politically Correct: The Ultimate Storybook - Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Once upon a More Enlightened Time, and Politically Correct Holiday Stories. New York: Smithmark Publishers. ISBN 0-7651-0867-4. This little novella transverses the most common fairytales and throws a completely new spin on them. A completely and utterly politically correct spin on them. Cinderella arrived. She was dressed in a clinging gown woven of silk stolen from unsuspecting silk-worms. Her hair was festooned with pearls plundered from hard-working, defenseless oysters. And on her feet, dangerous though it may seem, she wore slippers made of finely cut crystal. The amount of sass condensed in this book is overwhelming. Red Riding Hood screamed, not out of alarm at the wolf's apparent tendency toward cross-dressing, but because of his willful invasion of her personal space. Hilarious in the extreme. My mother, sister and I took turns reading these stories out loud on a car ride. We had several moments where we literally could not speak because we were laughing so hard. This is a parody of the Billy Goats Gruff folktale, which satirizes "the masochistic tendencies of modern American liberal morality". The three Billy Goats and the Troll all attempt to take the blame for the situation and end up in a mass brawl which results in them falling off the bridge.Garner, James Finn (April 1994). Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life and Times. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-02-542730-X. A parody of the Cinderella fairy tale, with a distinctly feminist and anti- lookist twist. The ending is completely different from the original fairy tale. A reworking of familiar tales in non-sexist, non-patriarchal, non-judgmental language ... I did laugh aloud

From Cinderella rejecting unrealistic ideas of feminine beauty, to the Three Little Pigs arming themselves and overthrowing their imperialist wolf oppressors, all right-minded people will feel comfortable reading these enlightened versions to their little pre-adults. This parody is based on the classic Snow White fairy tale, with numerous satirical twists (for example, the Seven Dwarfs, who are referred to as "vertically challenged men", run a retreat for men wanting to indulge in "primal" behavior) and a completely different ending. It has similar themes to the Cinderella parody from earlier in the book.

I read it several years ago and cannot remember enough to review it. It was a hilarious undertaking though and brought many hours of mirth into a often very busy, stressful existence.

No, the good brothers did their thing long before Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women, so the only thing left for the author to do is clean them up.There's no point in detailing any of the stories just because the book is so short, but I'll cite a few examples to give you a better idea of what's going on. In "Little Red Riding Hood," for instance, the woodsman becomes a "woodcutter" or, as he prefers, a "log-fuel technician." When a bandwagon reaches the point that it is subject to satirical spoofs, it's a good indication that said bandwagon has traveled way too far. `Political correctness' is one such bandwagon, and this little book is a pretty good attempt at poking pins in its over-inflated rhetoric.Her screams were heard by a passing woodchopperperson (or log-fuel technician, as he preferred to be called). When he burst into the cottage, he saw the melee and tried to intervene. But as he raised his ax, Red Riding Hood and the wolf both stopped. When this book was published, it was thought quite humorous. I find it rather trite. But it does raise some intersting questions about the evolution of traditional tales and the "moral lessons" that are embedded in them for children. Tongue-in-cheek, Finn Garner "cleans up" the offensive stereotypes. For instance, in the tale I studied this week, Little Red Riding Hood, when the wolf offers to offered accompany her through the dangerous woods, replies, "I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way." Grandma, too, exacts her feminist revenge on the woodchopper, who "assumes that womyn and wolves can't solve their own problems without a man's help." Garner, James Finn (October 1995). Politically Correct Holiday Stories: For an Enlightened Yuletide Season. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-02-860420-2. At last, here is bedtime reading free from prejudice and discrimination of witches, giants, dwarves, goblins and fairies everywhere. For anyone brought up on sexist, racist, sizeist and ethnocentrist reading matter, James Finn Garner's stories have been purged of the influence of an insensitive cultural past to become fables for our times. Examples are the “7 Towering Giants” and the Prince thinking they could use the comatose Snow White as a cure for impotence and at midnight Cinderella’s clothes disappear into rags which has a weird effect on other women and the men wind up dead.