Jane Yolen's Sleeping Ugly is a retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale. Written for children, the story attempts to reverse messages of the traditional tale and to teach children that being caring and kind and good-- being "beautiful" on the inside-- is more important than physical beauty. The story also does away with the glamor, splendor and magnificance common to traditional fairy tales; it makes the story more homey and makes family life-- with children and relatives and friends, not just a husband and wife living "happily ever after"-- appealing.
Family is important in Yolen's Sleeping Ugly. In many classic fairy tales parents are absent or unimportant or are in conflict with their children or step-children. Though the parents of Plain Jane and the parents of Princess Miserella are not a part of the story, Prince Jojo's parents are present (he kisses them goodnight, demonstrating that it is acceptable for men to show their affections). Plain Jane and Prince Jojo also become parents, themselves. They have three children, and the illustrastions in the book show them in a happy family portrait, looking like any average, content family.
Sleeping Ugly can be considered a feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty because it reverses two traditional aspects of the tale which are demeaning to women. While the traditional Sleeping Beauty dwells on the physical attractiveness of the princess, Sleeping Ugly makes clear that, though Princess Miserella may be beautiful to look at, "inside, where it was hard to see she was the meanest, wickedest, and most worthless princess around" (8). Plain Jane, on the other hand, is not very pretty, but is very kind and good and she is rewarded in the end with a happy life, while Princess Miserella is never awoken from her enchanted sleep because the prince refuses to kiss her and wake someone so mean. Character, then, becomes more important to succeeding in life than beauty.
The other aspect of the book which contains a significantly different message from the original tale is the concept of "happily ever after." In a traditional fairy tale, happily ever after means that the prince gains a beautiful princess and a kingdom, and the princess' life is fulfilled by marriage to a prince. In Jane Yolen's book, Prince Jojo and Plain Jane are happy because they are together; they are happy because they have a family and are surrounded by people who love and care about them, and people whom they love and care about. Happily ever after does not mean ruling a kingdom (they end up living in a cottage in the woods rather than a palace) or gaining a princess as a prize. Happily ever after does not even mean marriage. The secret to happiness, Yolen's book suggests, is to be caring and loving.