Fairy tales on different scales

[attach]4269[/attach]Claus Koch is changing the face of the traditional fairy tale.

The North York resident’s first published book, Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Boar, is a contemporary tale that puts a twist on the story of the Three Little Pigs.

The story follows the three friendly little wolves, who perform feats of daring while being hounded by the Big Bad Boar.

A semi-retired chemical engineer, Koch may be an unlikely children’s book writer but the journey began at the dinner table 30 years ago when he started telling stories to his three now-adult kids.

“It wasn’t any fun to tell the traditional story, especially if you’re going to tell it a second or third time,” Koch says.

To keep storytime exciting for both him and his children, Koch began changing and merging different fairy tales together. Through the years, bits and pieces eventually came together to form something new, Koch said.

Seeing the potential in the modern twist of an old tale, Koch created a few books and handed copies out as gifts.

With no creative writing background, his preferred reading material consists of non-fiction works.

But Koch, who also dabbles in poetry writing and photography, said his natural creative imagination is always present.

“To me, writing is a tool for reaching a far larger audience than the spoken word can,” Koch says.

After much persuasion and encouragement to publish the tale from readers and fans, Koch finally decided to self-publish.

“Publishing the book provided an opportunity to return something to the community.”

Although the suggested audience is eight to nine year olds, Koch said parents usually enjoy it as much as the kids.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Boar is available through [url]www.authorhouse.com[/url], Amazon and Chapters.