From the Publisher
Everyone knows Sleeping Beauty has to be woken with a kiss, except Prince Charming. Every time the fairies watching over her try to tell him, he interrupts with his ideas of how to wake her. Eventually he gets the message, and his reaction is priceless: "One hundred years of morning breath Wow! That could be the kiss of death!"
With just as much interactive fun as Falling for Rapunzel (an IRA Notable Book and the winner of Maryland's Black-Eyed Susan Picture Book Award), this fractured fairy tale will elicit laughter that no one will be able to sleep through.
Publishers Weekly
The creators of Falling for Rapunzeloffer another creatively warped version of a familiar tale, again pairing chipper rhymed couplets with dynamic mixed-media art. In search of dragons to slay, Prince Charming believes he has found his prey when he hears a "dreadful sound" coming from a castle-but it is only the snoring of Sleeping Beauty. The three tiny fairies who surround her bed try their best to tell the prince how to wrench the maiden from her slumbers, but each time the rhyming fairies are about to pronounce the word "kiss," he interrupts them with another futile stab at waking Beauty (he tries jumping on the bed, pouring water on her head and shooting her out of a cannon, after which he fishes her from the moat). Featuring textured, patterned fabrics and robust rosy hues, Monks's illustrations incorporate funny flourishes, among them spiders spinning webs and mice cavorting by Beauty's bedside. A surprise ending will leave readers thoroughly roused. Ages 3-up. (Jan.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Children's Literature
AGERANGE: Ages 4 to 8.
In this hilarious rhymed couplet variation on the Sleeping Beauty story, Prince Charming hears a "dreadful sound" as he rides by a nearby castle. He finds that it comes from a snoring girl, watched over by three fairies, who try to tell him how to wake her. But each time he interrupts them before they can finish the rhyme with "kiss," and he tries something else even more ridiculous, from jumping up on the bed to shooting her from a cannon. When they finally get to the "kiss," she reacts by knocking him out before the final happy ending. Monks incorporates flowery snippets of fabric and colored papers to illustrate a rather silly looking prince and a cute but snoring princess. Paints add bits of scenery like the drapes, backgrounds, and the fairies. The non-detailed, cartoony characters are full of life; green vines with red roses grow onto the castle walls and all over the endpapers, where little mice, birds and bugs roam. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal
K-Gr 4- The creators of the comical Falling for Rapunzel (Putnam, 2003) present an equally funny spoof of "Sleeping Beauty." Prince Charming is out searching for beasts to slay when he hears a loud and strange sound emanating from a castle. Sure that a dragon lurks within, he climbs through a window, only to discover a snoring princess. Three fluttering fairies inform him that she will awaken only for a prince and tell him to "give the girl a little lip." The clueless hero responds by hollering, "WAKE UP, LAZYBONES!" As Beauty sleeps on, he does more silly things like jumping on the bed and shooting her out of a cannon, before the exasperated fairies exclaim, "How can you be so unromantic?...wake her with a/KISS!" The prince responds, "One hundred years of morning breath./Wow! That could be the kiss of death!" Filled with puns and lively wordplay, the rhyming plays off traditional plot elements, and readers familiar with the original will enjoy making comparisons. Colorful, waggish illustrations, done in acrylic paint and collage, enhance the amusing story. Angular faces have exaggerated features: Beauty's lips form a heart shape and the prince's eyes-large circles with tiny dots-manage to be very expressive. The flashy cover will beckon children in, and the fun-filled story will appeal to girls as well as boys (especially those who, like the prince, are still in the "girls are yucky" stage).-Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma County Library, CA
Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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