Friday, March 27, 2015

#Review: Grimmtastic Girls:Cinderella Stays Late (Book 1) & Red Riding Hood Gets Lost (Book 2) by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams #Middlegrade, #kidsbooks




Summary: 

Once upon a time, in faraway Grimmlandia...
A Grimmtastic girl named Cinderella is starting her first week at Grimm Academy on the wrong foot. Cinda's totally evil stepsisters are out to make her life miserable. The Steps tease Cinda, give her terrible advice about life at the academy, and even make her look bad in front of her new friends, Red, Snow, and Rapunzel! But when Cinda overhears the Steps plotting a villainous deed that could ruin Prince Awesome's ball, Cinda, her new friends, and a pair of magical glass slippers have to stop them--before the last stroke of midnight!

My review: 

What a  retelling of a familiar story! This time though, Cinderalla, aka Cinda is no Princess. She does not wear a crown but goes to school with lots of kids that do. Fitting in is hard for her especially when you are supposed to be able to dance, which...

Oh, now, I cannot give that away can I?

I really enjoyed this fun twist on the familiar tale. This book is targeted for kids in grades 3-6 and mostly for girls. Boys might read this book too but it is doubtful.  I loved how Cinda worked on fitting in and made mistakes so badly that she thought she never might. However, she found out, as kids will, that not everyone is perfect but there are things you can excel at that others cannot. It makes you unique and people will like you just the way you are.




Summary:

Red Riding Hood might have a terrible sense of direction, but her grimmtastic friends are always there to help!

Once upon a time, in faraway Grimmlandia...
Red Riding Hood is thrilled to try out for the school play. Acting is her dream, and she's great at it--too bad she has stage fright! After a grimmiserable audition, Red decides to focus on helping her friends Cinda, Snow, and Rapunzel save Grimm Academy from the E.V.I.L. Society. But when Red gets lost in Neverwood forest and runs into Wolfgang, who might be part of E.V.I.L., she needs her magic basket and a grimmazingly dramatic performance to figure out what's going on!

My review:

This second book could be a stand alone book as it tells the tale of Red Riding Hood aka Red. However, to follow along with some ideas, the book really should be read in succession to the first.

This book carries along a similar theme as the first with the exception of learning to trust.  Also, the idea of people do not always appear what they seem or in this case have been written as. Red learns to trust herself, her friends, and even new friends to succeed. Kids reading this book will have no problem picking up on that theme.

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Both of these are winners to me. I am not always wanting to read girlie-girl books but these two fit that bill and I was not disappointed in the least. The character's development was fun and mysterious at the same time. I could pick up the running theme in each book without issue. If was also fun to see the old fairy tales intertwined with a new twist. I enjoyed seeing the characters as younger girls before they ended up as they are known today. Fantasy abounds in these books and are a no miss for children to read, especially if they like fairy tales.

5 stars!

Disclosure: I received a copy of each book in exchange for my open and honest opinion. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

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