TITLE: Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life
AUTHOR: Alison Davies
PUBLISHER: Watkins Publishing
ISBN: 978-1786787330
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Fairy tales are universal. Each and every society tells some form of fairy tales, and according to researchers they might be the oldest form of recorded storytelling in existence. To what do they owe that longevity? What is it about fairy tales that endears us so thoroughly? Alison Davies has her theories, many of which are easily accessible within the Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life published by Watkins Publishing and released in February 2023.
Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life, previously published as Be Your Own Fairy Tale in 2015, is based upon the singular notion that fairy tales appeal to us due to the universal messages that they contain. Our own experiences are mirrored within fairy tales. We carry all of the characters within us - from Prince Charming to the Big Bad Wolf. By viewing fairytales through this lens we can enrich our lives, heal our hearts, and face challenges better equipped than before.
Alison Davies is a professional storyteller and author of over 60 books. She has been running workshops on how to improve your life through the use of fairy tales and storytelling for over a decade now, and has condensed some of those workshop lessons into this book. The book is designed to be read in any order. If you wish to jump immediately into how to overcome anxiety you can slip into “Fears, Desires, and Phobias.” If you’d rather focus on your love life, “Love and Relationships” will help guide you towards loving yourself and attracting the right person for you. Each chapter is beautifully bookended by illustrations by Paul Oakley, every one of which evokes the feeling of the fairytale world in stark black and white - from the beginning “Power of Storytelling” to the final chapter “Creative Ideas.”
But, you might protest, I don’t have a creative bone in my body! Davies anticipates this, and counters with easy exercises to ease you into this new creative world. Telling stories can help change your perspectives and through that, solve problems in inventive ways. By the end of the book, should you engage with the exercises, you will be telling stories and entrancing audiences - and more importantly yourself - in no time.
This book is easy to read, but the interactivity of the exercises and top tips, as well as the further reading options, will keep you occupied for a while. Give them all a chance and you might just find that there are more stories within you than you ever anticipated - and beyond that, you enjoy telling them. Fairy tales can indeed change your life, and whether you’re creating your own or revisiting a best loved tale from your childhood you’ll be engaging with them in a more thoughtful manner after finishing Davies’ book.
AUTHOR: Alison Davies
PUBLISHER: Watkins Publishing
ISBN: 978-1786787330
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Fairy tales are universal. Each and every society tells some form of fairy tales, and according to researchers they might be the oldest form of recorded storytelling in existence. To what do they owe that longevity? What is it about fairy tales that endears us so thoroughly? Alison Davies has her theories, many of which are easily accessible within the Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life published by Watkins Publishing and released in February 2023.
Fairy Tales Can Change Your Life, previously published as Be Your Own Fairy Tale in 2015, is based upon the singular notion that fairy tales appeal to us due to the universal messages that they contain. Our own experiences are mirrored within fairy tales. We carry all of the characters within us - from Prince Charming to the Big Bad Wolf. By viewing fairytales through this lens we can enrich our lives, heal our hearts, and face challenges better equipped than before.
Alison Davies is a professional storyteller and author of over 60 books. She has been running workshops on how to improve your life through the use of fairy tales and storytelling for over a decade now, and has condensed some of those workshop lessons into this book. The book is designed to be read in any order. If you wish to jump immediately into how to overcome anxiety you can slip into “Fears, Desires, and Phobias.” If you’d rather focus on your love life, “Love and Relationships” will help guide you towards loving yourself and attracting the right person for you. Each chapter is beautifully bookended by illustrations by Paul Oakley, every one of which evokes the feeling of the fairytale world in stark black and white - from the beginning “Power of Storytelling” to the final chapter “Creative Ideas.”
But, you might protest, I don’t have a creative bone in my body! Davies anticipates this, and counters with easy exercises to ease you into this new creative world. Telling stories can help change your perspectives and through that, solve problems in inventive ways. By the end of the book, should you engage with the exercises, you will be telling stories and entrancing audiences - and more importantly yourself - in no time.
This book is easy to read, but the interactivity of the exercises and top tips, as well as the further reading options, will keep you occupied for a while. Give them all a chance and you might just find that there are more stories within you than you ever anticipated - and beyond that, you enjoy telling them. Fairy tales can indeed change your life, and whether you’re creating your own or revisiting a best loved tale from your childhood you’ll be engaging with them in a more thoughtful manner after finishing Davies’ book.