A lighthearted modern take on the adventures of fairy-tale princesses.
Sleeping Beauty wakes up and immediately runs away, then finds herself in a school in the modern day.
Cheeky prose narrates 16-year-old (“but she was also, it dawned on her, one hundred and sixteen!”) Rosamund’s hasty escape from the overeager prince through a nearby bathroom and into an unknown world. Her childhood tutor encouraged her to ask questions, so when she gets to the Orphans’ Home Educational Academy, which cares for fellow princesses (after all, HEA “could stand for Happily Ever After”), that’s the first thing she does. Rosamund’s confusion about cell phones, social media, and jeggings provides light amusement, as do on-the-nose references to Perrault and Calvino that might pass younger readers by. Rosamund soon learns that questions are not welcome, but she can’t silence her curiosity. She sneaks off campus with classmates Rana and Sirena to meet greasy teenage boys and discovers the joys of pizza. When Sirena, aka the Little Mermaid, gets eaten by a monster called an Uponatime, Rosamund realizes she has many more questions, and she must face her fears to figure out her new story. Rosamund’s journey offers some trenchant truisms (“That’s the risk of standing up for yourself…There’s no promise of a happy ending”), and the resolution is appropriately satisfying. While the tone is amusing, the book draws upon the more gruesome traditional versions of the tales. Most characters read white; Rana is olive-skinned.
A lighthearted modern take on the adventures of fairy-tale princesses. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780063303874
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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