Tag Archives: fairytale

Jun
09
2017

The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer

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The Land of Stories

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When I was little I wondered what happened to characters like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood after their stories ended. Well in the Land Of Stories series, you can find out. The book I read is called the Wishing Spell and it is written by Chris Colfer. This book is about two kids, Alex and Conner, who are brother and sister. They are going through a hard time because there father recently died. For their 12th birthday, their grandma gives them a book called The Land of Stories. One night the book starts humming. Weird right? Alex then starts dropping her pencils on the book and they fall into the book! Eventually Conner and Alex jump into the book! When they land into the different world they realize that all fairy tale characters they knew growing up are real. As much as Alex and Conner enjoy this world they realize the only way back to the old one is to get the Wishing Spell.

Alex is smart, brave and cautious. She is smart because she remembers thoughts and lessons from the past and uses that to help her in the future. She is in the top of her class (unlike her brother) and pays attention to things. She is brave because she takes risks to do things that pay off in the end. She is cautious because she doesn’t trust everyone and makes plan B’s.

I thought the most interesting part of the book is when they realize their family used to live here. I thought it was interesting because the way the two twins reacted differently tells a lot about their personality. Alex is surprised and happy, she feels like she finally has a connection to some place because for the past year the twins had to move around a lot. Conner on the other hand doesn’t want his friends to know and is highly embarrassed. I think that Conner has less confidence and sometimes does things he might not necessarily want to do, for other people.

I enjoyed this book because I thought the ‘after stories’ made a lot of sense and by the end of the book I felt like I knew each character. I would recommend this book as well as the other two books. (A new one is coming out shortly.) Chris Colfer is in many shows and movies such as glee and struck by lightning. I think the Bailey twins are very unique because they share both many similarities and many differences. They each know so much about each other, but respect their differences. A quote from the book that I think would best explain Alex would be, “I think what I’ve learned from all of this is that villains are mostly people villainized by circumstance.” I think this explains a lot about her personality because in the beginning of the book, Alex only thought that the heros or princesses were the good people. But in the end like it said in the quote, they were mostly villainized by circumstance. They were originaly good people and something they did wrong made them an outcast. Even if Alex is wrong, she would usually not admit that she knew she was wrong. She learned that its OK to be wrong after her experience in the fairy tale world. I would rate this book 5 stars because of the creativity and the bonds between characters.

 

 

 

Jan
15
2016

The School For Good And Evil

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SGE-CoverThe book I read is called The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. The main characters are Sophie and Agatha. The problem from Sophie’s perspective is that she is in Evil school when Agatha is in Good school. The problem from Agatha’s perspective is that she and Sophie are at the School for Good and Evil and she wants to go home. This book takes place at The School For Good And Evil.

I found it interesting and important when at the end of the Trial by Tale, which is a competition where the top 15 Evers (good people) and top 15 Nevers (evil people) fight in the forest until a winner is declared, Tedros (the prince) finds out that Sophie was using Agatha to get good grades. I thought this part was interesting and important because if Sophie wasn’t mad at Tedros for breaking his promise, she and her roomates, Hester and Anadil, wouldn’t have attacked the School for Good. I liked the part when Agatha got attacked by the Wish Fish. The Wish Fish is a magical fish that you make a wish on. I thought it was really important when Agatha agreed to go to the ball with Tedros because at that part, Sophie realized that Agatha was her nemesis, not Tedros.

In the beginning, Sophie is loyal, kind, and beautiful because she is always doing good deeds. In the end, Sophie is wicked, demanding, and dreadful because she is always ordering people around and she kept trying to kill Agatha. In the beginning, Agatha is rebellious, lonely, and frantic because she’s always alone and never really talks to anyone. In the end, Agatha is friendly, peaceful, and loving because she has a lot of trust in everyone. A quote that describes Sophie in the beginning is when Hester says, “she smells like an Ever.” A quote that describes Sophie in the end is when Agatha says to Sophie, “You brought me here to kill me.” A quote that describes Agatha in the beginning is when Reena says, “she looks so evil.” A quote that describes Agatha in the end is when Agatha says to Tedros, “I won’t help a Captain leading his army to their graves.”

I enjoyed this book a lot. I enjoyed it because it has a topsy-turvy plot that is action packed with a little bit of violence. It also gives a good laugh. I would recommend it to everyone! This book does not remind me of anything but it’s probably related to something I haven’t read or seen yet. I give this book five stars.

Jan
14
2016

Sisters Grimm 2, By Michael Buckley

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I read a book called The Sisters Grimm 2 by Michael Buckley that was commendable. This book is part of a series called The Sisters Grimm. The central characters’ names are Daphne Grimm and Sabrina Grimm. This book takes place in Ferry Point Landing. The complication in this book is that there are monster problems at Ferry Point Landing Elementary, Daphne’s and Sabrina’s school. The girls try to solve the mystery of their school and go on an adventure.

Other characters in this book are Mayor Charming, the Mayor of Ferry Point Landing, Snow White and Mr. Grumpner.  Snow White is Daphne’s teacher and Mr. Grumpner is Sabrina’s teacher. Sadly Mr. Grumpner meets his death by a giant spider and is replaced. Other characters are Mr. Sheepshank, a teacher, and Relda Grimm, the girls’ Grandma and Puck, a “friend” of Sabrina’s.

Sabrina is tough and angry because in the first few days of school she already got in many fights. Another example is that she is always getting mad at people. Daphne is goofy, silly and kind because she tried to ground her older sister. Another example is that she loves making silly faces. The last one is that when her sister got a broken arm she gave her sister a big hug. I enjoy that the two sisters have very different personalities.

The plot is fascinating. One part that is very interesting is when a giant frog girl starts chasing them. It was very interesting because I did not expect that to happen. Another thing that was interesting is when Sabrina gets in a fight with someone she loves. That was interesting because those people had never fought before. The main character made a big decision when Sabrina tried to fight something much bigger than her.

I enjoyed this book very much because there were a lot of twist and turns and when you think you know something it ends up being much different than you thought. Another reason I enjoyed this book is because there were some classic fairytale characters like Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White. I would recommend this book to people who like twisted fairytales because this book is like a fairytale book just with lots of things you would not expect. At the beginning of this book you think it is going to go one way when it actually goes another. A connection I have with this book is that my personality is very similar to Daphne’s. I think it is a four out of five stars.            

 

        

Jan
14
2016

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani

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The book I’m reading is called The School for Good and Evil written by Soman Chainani. There are three books in the series. There are two main characters in the book. One is named Sophie and she’s the witch. The other main character is named Agatha, she’s the princess. Sophie has always wanted to be a princess in the school for good. Then Agatha got in the School for Good and Sophie was stuck in the School for Evil. Sophie got really jealous and confused that Agatha is a princess and she’s not. This book takes place in two schools, The School for Good and the School for Evil.

Agatha is nice in the inside but pretends to not be nice in the outside. Sophie is the opposite of Agatha. She is cruel in the inside and pretends to be nice in the outside. Together they’re unique in a bad way. When you first start the book, Sophie and Agatha are normal girls in Gavaldon the town where they’re from. Everybody in Gavaldon thinks Sophie is good because she pretends to be. They think Agatha is evil because she wears black and lives in a graveyard in the woods. But it’s the opposite of what you think.

Sophie wants to be good so badly she believes she’s a princess, but she doesn’t know she is being selfish and cruel. One example of this is when Sophie was not grateful that her friend got something she didn’t.  Agatha thinks Sophie is good, and Agatha has been a true friend to Sophie. Sophie does good deeds to impress the schoolmaster so he thinks she is a princess. Tedros who is a prince, thinks Sophie is supposed to be in the School for Good because she’s pretty. He thinks they confused her with Agatha and that Agatha is supposed to be evil because she is ugly, has a negative attitude and wears black. You never know what’s coming next with Sophie and Agatha.

I really enjoyed this book because it has a twist in it that might surprise you. I also liked how much the author described the magic within the book. For example, how one of the teachers can talk to animals. I recommend this book because it’s a sweet story with a lot of magic and I like magic a lot. You really get pulled into the book and it’s really fun to read so I would definitely recommend it. I have a connection to one of the main characters in the book, Sophie. I’ve always wanted to be in a fairy tale and be on the good side. I rate this book five out of five stars.            

     

Dec
11
2015

Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon

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imgres-1The book that I read is called Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon. The main characters are called Princess Harriet and Ratshade. Harriet is not an average princess. When Harriet was only a tiny baby, a witch who is named Ratshade. cursed her so that when she was at the age of twelve, she would prick her finger but it also meant she would sleep for a very long time.  The curse made her invincible, but it also meant what I told you before, she would sleep for a very long time. The settings of the book are Harriet’s parents’ castle, her parents’ village, in which the name of her village is Hamster Vill, and other Kings’ villages in which are friend’s parents villages

One important part of the book is when Harriet gets cursed. It meant nothing could hurt her until she was twelve years old. Another important part of the book is what she does with the power. The power is invicibility.  Everyone started calling her Crazy Princess Hamster Bone because of some of the things she did like: jump off the highest tower in their village and attacking trolls and ogres. 

One event that changed the story is when Harriet swung Ratshade into the spinning wheel  and Ratshade got cursed instead of Harriet. Also when Harriet found a prince because that is what made the story find an ending because she got a friend too. An adjective to describe Harriet is that she is brave. She is brave because she is a risk taker. She jumps off towers in the kingdom and in the Hamster village, people don’t do that. Harriet is strong because she fights ogres and swings Ratshade into the spinning wheel. 

I liked Hamster Princess because the author threw out amazing ideas. One reason I did not like the book is the author would throw out  too many amazing ideas, which made it hard to follow. It was like too many facts just like this: there was a cow, and then a pig and then a chicken and then a cat and then the cow pooped. I  give this book four stars because sometimes the book was confusing, and it was like the pages were in the wrong order. I liked Hamster Princess because it was really heart warming.

Dec
11
2015

The School For Good and Evil, Soman Chainani

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61PWRNlIucL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_The book I read the  book called The School For Good and Evil. It was written by Soman Chainani. The three main characters are Sophie, who is the ‘witch’ in their story that goes to the school for Evil, Agatha, who is the ‘princess’ of their story that goes to the school for Good and Tedros, the ‘prince’ of their story that goes to the school for Good. One adjective to describe Sophie is romantic because Sophie holds hands with Tedros a lot.  

The problem is that Agatha makes a wish for a different ever after ending for her story with Tedros instead of Sophie. Agatha has an ending with Tedros and Sophie has a crush on Tedros so they are fighting on who gets him. An ever after is when the Princess or Prince or rarely the Witch gets a happy ending. Then the Schools for Good and Evil change to the Schools for Girls and Boys. This is a problem because the “Storian” (The pen that writes the stories) makes all of the “The End’s” in the stories go away. Then all of the princes come out of the stories and want to destroy girls. The book takes place at The School For good and Evil which is in the Endless Forest and Gavaldon which is where Sophie and Agatha live.

One reason I think this book is good because when you read one chapter you always want to read the next one. This book is also good because it really tells you that friendship and being a good friend is very important. This book is also good because it makes you think about what it might be like as a fairytale character. I like this book because it has some very beautiful romance and humor. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

 

 

 

Dec
10
2015

The Sisters Grimm, by Michael Buckley

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176327I read a book called The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley. The central  characters names are Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. The complication in this book is that a giant carries away their grandmother and the grandmother’s friend, Mr. Canis. The Grimm family lives in a small town called Ferry Point Landing.

The kids try to stop the giant and save their grandmother. There is a giant killer named Jack, (from Jack and the Beanstalk ) that tries to help them save their grandmother. Charming is another character that Sabrina and Daphne think is mean, he is an important character and is the mayor of Ferry Point Landing. When the sisters were trying to find their grandmother, they found a magic mirror that helped along the sisters journey. The sisters have very different personalities, Daphne is happy most of the time and a little goofy while Sabrina is a small grump and hates bullies. “I love these t-shirts the are so cute,” said Daphne when talking about their new clothes. “They make me want to barf,” said Sabrina after looking at the new t-shirts.    

I enjoyed the book because It had a lot of twists and turns; and I liked the personality of the main characters. I also enjoyed it because in one part, one of Sabrina’s enemies turned into a close friend, and one of Sabrina’s friends turned into an enemy. I would recommend it to people who like fiction and fairy tales. I would give it four and a half stars (out of five).