Review: Reading Beauty by Deborah Underwood

READING BEAUTY

by Deborah Underwood

Illustrated by Meg Hunt

Chronicle Books

Picture Book

44 pages

ages 3 to 5

When a fairy's curse—a deathlike sleep via paper cut—threatens to make her kingdom barren of books, it's up to space princess Lex to break the spell and bring books back to her people. Set in the universe of the acclaimed Interstellar Cinderella, this irrepressible fairytale retelling will charm young readers with its brave heroine, its star-studded setting, and its hilarious, heartwarming happy ending.

MY TIDBITS

The tale of sleeping beauty takes an unexpected twist into space and will have reading fans' hearts shooting to the moon.

Princess Lex loves, loves, and loves to read. Her room is stacked with books. One morning, the books have disappeared! When she rushes to find the reason behind the loss of her favorite possessions, she discovers that she was cursed as a baby by an evil fairy. One paper cut will mean devastation for her and the kingdom.

Not only is this book a fairy tale retelling with quite the twist, it's an empowers children to read. And perhaps, look for the true purpose behind a person's 'evil' deeds. The entire tale is written in rhyme and has an obvious development similar to the original tale. Of course, there are several fun and unexpected twists, and this keeps the tale original and gives it a dash of fun.

The illustrations are bright and bold, and while I and my kids weren't huge fans of several of the characters' portrayals, the super sweet 'Prince' made up for them and more. It's a cute tale, which carries clear messages and offers space fun.

And here they are...

The Author...
Deborah Underwood is the author of Interstellar Cinderella and many other books for children, including the New York Times bestsellers Here comes the Easter Cat, The Quiet Book, and The Loud Book. She lives in San Francisco.

The Illustrator...

Meg Hunt is the illustrator of Interstellar Cinderella and a printmaker, educator, and all-around maker of things. She was also the recipient of the 2015 Society of Illustrators Gold Medal Award for her contribution to the illustrators 58 exhibition. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.