Sleeping Beauty and it's many incarnations

My absolute favorite fairytale character is Sleeping Beauty.  My favorite movie for the longest was the Disney version. When I was a child I’d watch that and Beauty and the Beast over and over again until the tape wore out.

I knew the lines by heart.  The songs AND the actual dialogue.  When I was cleaning or playing by myself, I would dance around like Aurora does in the beginning where the owl is pretending to be her Prince and I’d just pretend I was her. I adored her. 

When my friends (both boys and girls) were over, I’d make them play Sleeping Beauty with me and truth be told, that’s PROBABLY how I got my first kiss, but since I was like 6, I’m not sure it counts.  LOL. 

Of course, I grew up and stopped watching and pretended I had no clue what people were talking about when they would talk about my obsession. 

 But still when my daughter was born, I don’t think anyone was all that surprised when I named her Aurora. (But honestly, it was because of the Northern lights—Aurora Borealis—not the princess, because I never even really knew her name was Aurora. Until then I thought her name was Briar Rose, and I hadn’t watched it since I was just a little girl, but now she’ll always be my little Sleeping Beauty—even though she doesn’t really ever sleep. )  

But now she’s into it like I was. Probably more so because it’s her name and she LOVES her name.  It’s really sweet when she sees something with Princess Aurora on it and she points to herself and goes, “That’s me. I’m Princess Aurora!”

But anyway, I’m not as in love with the Disney version as I was when I was little. I’ve grown up and I really don’t like how they portrayed her.  My absolute favorite is a more recent re-telling and that’s Alex Flinn’s A KISS IN TIME. 

It’s perfect for the romantic in us, but also doesn’t portray Aurora (Talia) as this weak female who needs rescuing from her prince.  It was the perfect mix for me. 

I also really enjoyed  A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan. It's the best of both worlds. My favorite genre (science fiction) and my favorite fairy tale.

And then, another of my favorite authors, Kendare Blake, wrote a short story revolving around the fairy tale and I love it!

ETA: check out Jay's post from yesterday to see what the ORIGINAL story behind Sleeping Beauty was.  I think I may have to change what my favorite fairy tale is now.  :P

It’s amazing how many different ways something can be seen.  

J.A. Souders is the author of RENEGADE a YA dystopian that takes place in an underwater utopian society, coming Fall 2012 from Tor Teen.  For more information visit her blog or website.