Feminist Fairy Tale Rewriting as Children’s Books: The Fair Tales Project from Türkiye

Abstract

This article examines the possibilities and limitations of feminist rewriting for children through five fairy tales rewritten as part of the Fair Tales project in Türkiye. Assuming that traditional fairy tales, which reproduce patriarchal ideology through language, imagery, and character construction, play an important role in children’s internalization of gender roles at an early age, the study discusses how feminist rewriting transforms this ideological structure. Conducted within the framework of feminist theory and the principles of children’s literature, the research examines five rewritten fairy tales: The Kindhearted Prince and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel, Cinderella’s Riddle, The Frog Prince, and Little Red Riding Hood. Using critical discourse analysis, the tales are examined in terms of character representations and agency, the transformation of gender stereotypes, the restructuring of plot conventions, and their compatibility with child reality, child-appropriateness, and the child’s perspective. Beyond their narrative and ideological transformation, these rewritings are approached as published children’s books that circulate through print, digital access, and theatrical adaptation, positioning feminist rewriting within contemporary children’s book culture. The findings reveal that these fairy tales present egalitarian representations for girls and boys; passive female figures waiting to be rescued are replaced by empowered, decision-making, and transformative characters. At the same time, patriarchal codes such as domestic labor, power, heroism, and marriage are de-gendered; solutions based on violence are replaced by solidarity, cooperation, and peaceful forms of relationship. The study also shows that these feminist interventions are carried out in a manner consistent with the fundamental aesthetic and pedagogical principles of children’s literature, without falling into didacticism. In conclusion, the article argues that the Fair Tales project is an important literary and pedagogical practice that contributes to the development of feminist children’s literature in Türkiye and demonstrates how feminist fairytale rewriting, when realized as children’s books, functions as a cultural intervention shaping young readers’ meaning-making processes.