I thoroughly enjoyed Enthusiasm, the story of Julie and her best friend Ashleigh and their sophomore year of high school. Ashleigh moves from obsessive craze to obsessive craze, and for most of the novel she’s obsessed with Pride and Prejudice. It’s obvious that the author also loves Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and other staples of English […]
Beyond Dinocalypse
April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My 10 year old son is so excited that Beyond Dinocalypse, the sequel to Dinocalypse Now, is finally available! Full disclosure up front: I edited this book, so I may be biased on quality—although that’s not really what Reads 4 Tweens is about, and therefore I think it’s fine to review books I’ve edited. Beyond […]
The Escape of Princess Madeline
April 9, 2013 by 3 Comments
The Escape of Princess Madeline is described by the author as a novella, although in print I think it would be at least comparable to a typical 10 chapter style book for younger readers. It tells the story of Princess Madeline who has to come to terms with the expectations of growing up as she […]
Princess of the Midnight Ball
April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Princess of the Midnight Ball is probably my favorite retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (and yes, there are a lot to choose from!). It’s the first book in a trilogy following the twelve princesses, each book focusing on a different princess. The curse is explored in full and the princesses are sympathetic. They are […]
The Princess Curse
April 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jeff Dougan. As Amanda and Jocelyn Koehler have noted, there’s been a lot of interest recently in retelling the story of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” It’s one of my two or three favorite fairy tales (in company with “The Six Swans” and “Seven Simons”). In a fairy tale, I like a hero […]
Scarlet
April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I usually wait until an entire series (or at least most of it) is published before I start reading—that avoids the situation of anxiously waiting for the next book to come out, a situation I faced with Scarlet, the hotly anticipated sequel to Cinder. Of course, as soon as the book was in my house, […]
Before Midnight
March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yet another fairy tale retelling by Cameron Dokey! I hope she never stops writing these. Before Midnight is based loosely on “Cinderella” and it makes some really interesting changes to the familiar tale. Cendrillon (“child of cinders”—Cinderella’s name in Perrault’s French fairy tales) was born just before midnight, as one day ends and another begins. […]
Beauty and the Beast
March 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ugh. I have a pretty high tolerance for mediocre fairy tale retellings and for generic historical(ish) romance, but Beauty and the Beast was a pretty painful combination of the two. At least I got it when it was offered for free—I suppose it’s a lesson in getting what you pay for! The beast is actually […]
Rapunzel, the One With All the Hair
March 27, 2013 by 4 Comments
The Twice Upon a Time series by Wendy Mass tells a familiar fairy tale from the point of view of both the heroine and the hero. Rapunzel, The One With All the Hair certainly takes liberties with the tale (Rapunzel is taken by the witch on her twelfth birthday instead of at her birth, for […]
A Tale Dark & Grimm
March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A Tale Dark & Grimm takes several familiar and a nice variety of less familiar Grimm fairy tales and links them together, casting Hansel and Gretel as the main characters in all of them. The premise is that these seemingly unconnected tales are actually all parts of one story. The author is also very straightforward […]
