Choices – Another Fairy Tale Coloring Book

Content Notes

Alex: depression
Beyond the Well: theft, physical pain, frustration
Both: mention of ableism, mention of fatphobia
Carol: physical fighting
Errant Knight: mention of eviction and beheading
The Evergreen Tree: anxiety, depression, mention of blades
Finn: spiders, dead spiders, ableism
Gretel and Hansel: patriarchal notions, child abandonment, poverty, prejudice
A Real Boy: gender dysphoria
Three Trees in a Forest: bullying, physical restraint, misogyny
The Queen of Frogs: abuse of power, animal abuse (as in throwing a frog)

About the Book

Alex and The Evergreen Tree as well as other stories to some extent have characters with depression. Dealing with this myself, it is a topic close to my heart.
Finn as well as Gretel and Hansel contain characters that are rejected by their families for being different. This is not meant as template on how to behave, but rather a depiction of what is too often the reality.
Beyond the Well and Both center around people who cannot do what they feel they need to be able to do. I often feel like Resina from Beyond the Well, when fatigue or chronic pain are setting tighter limits on me that I would like.
There is a lot of me in these stories, and I hope there is also a lot for you in them.

„Sources“ and additional information

Alex was inspired by having to walk away from a wonderful concert event with friends for a while to let the cloud dissipate a bit.
Beyond the Well was inspired by Mother Hulda by the brothers Grimm. As the sisters are also sometimes dubbed Gold-Mary and Pitch-Mary (at least in German) I named the girls Aurelia for gold and Resina for resin, or pitch.
Carol was inspired by every story having a teenager as the chosen one.
The Evergreen Tree was inspired by an Inktober prompt in 2022. I had the illustration before I had the story.
Finn was initially called Herb. When I learned that this term is sometimes used as a slur meaning “weakling” I changed. It did fit in a way, but I did not want to propagate use of that term.
Gretel and Hansel was inspired by Hansel and Gretel by the brothers Grimm. They are the reason why two pictures in the first book (for trying it out) and all in this one have gray lines as well as black. I wanted lighter lines for the vitiligo without that picture being the only one with different shades.
A Real Boy was inspired by Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.
In Three Trees in a Forest the dryads are named after the oaks they live in. Quercus Velutina is a Black oak, Quercus Rubra is a Northern Red Oak and Quercus Stellata is a White Oak.
The Queen of Frogs was of course inspired by the Frog King by the brothers Grimm.

Acknowledgements

First thanks go to my “Fairy Godmother” Kathleen Sloan, who was my first beta reader again. Thank you for your insight and your time!
Marilisa Valtazanou patiently corrected my grammar, spelling and scansion. And moved commas around so they would not feel too much out of place.
Neff Rodriguez (@treasurebooks) and Kayla (@orphansnwidows) from fiverr were my diversity readers.
Without their help a lot of things would have been way less clear or readable and I would have fallen into the one or other trope-trap.
I do not expect any of them to have found all possible faults (because no one can) and claim full responsibility for creating those.
Thank you for reading!