{"id":22328,"date":"2013-10-27T21:05:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T01:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=22328"},"modified":"2013-10-27T21:05:23","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T01:05:23","slug":"review-of-ever-after-high-the-storybook-of-legends-by-shannon-hale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=22328","title":{"rendered":"Review of Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends, by Shannon Hale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ever After High<\/p>\n

The Storybook of Legends<\/p>\n

by Shannon Hale<\/p>\n

Little, Brown and Company, 2013. 305 pages.<\/p>\n

I love Shannon Hale\u2019s writing. So when I learned she\u2019d written a book starting a series designed to go along with dolls made by Mattel, I had to at least try it. I also love fairy tale variants, and this series is set up to play off of fairy tales.<\/p>\n

This book is fun, but I couldn\u2019t really buy the premise at all. And to be fair, I\u2019m guessing that pretty much everything I didn\u2019t like was probably not Shannon Hale\u2019s idea, but the framework in which she was asked to write. When I judged for the Cybils last year, I learned that in Fantasy novels, I\u2019m a big stickler for internal logic. Could such a world exist? The premise of Ever After High<\/em> stretches credibility a bit too far for me.<\/p>\n

The idea is that in the world of Ever After, the children of storybook characters are destined to live out their parents\u2019 stories. In fact, on Legacy Day, second year students at Ever After High have a big ceremony and sign the Storybook of Legends in order to embrace their Destiny.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a cute premise, and the idea is that this has been going on for generations and generations. If a character doesn\u2019t sign, they are told their story will disappear, and so will they. But, come on \u2013 what if the storybook characters don\u2019t have children, or don\u2019t have them the right gender for the story, or have them at totally different ages from the other characters in the story? It seems like there\u2019d have to be an awful lot of coincidence for this to work.<\/p>\n

Anyway, in our story, we\u2019re focusing on Apple White, daughter of Snow White, destined for Happily Ever After, and Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen. Raven is not at all happy about being destined to be evil. What will happen if she doesn\u2019t sign the Storybook of Legends? There are rumors of a student who once upon a time didn\u2019t do that. Did she survive and live happily elsewhere? Or did she indeed go poof? Apple, however, is determined to make sure that Raven embraces her destiny \u2013 that\u2019s the only way Apple will get her Happy Ever After.<\/p>\n

I think my favorite character in this book was Maddie, the Mad Hatter\u2019s daughter, who can do impossible things. Some other fun ones are Cedar Wood, Pinocchio\u2019s daughter, and Briar Beauty, who falls asleep often but has a great fashion sense. Dexter Charming, younger brother of Daring Charming, was a nice contrast to his brother.<\/p>\n

It seemed kind of silly the way certain words were changed, fairly randomly. They used \u201chexcellent\u201d instead of \u201cexcellent\u201d and \u201cfairy\u201d instead of \u201cvery,\u201d for example, even though the change didn\u2019t really make any sense, but just made it sound more related to magic. I also noticed that certain outfits were described in tremendous detail \u2013 I\u2019m thinking because the outfits are being sold along with the dolls.<\/p>\n

But as I said, most of the things I didn\u2019t like were probably set up by Mattel, not the author. She did have a lot of fun within the premise. As you can imagine, there\u2019s a strong message of making your own choices.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see where they go from here.<\/p>\n

everafterhigh.com<\/a>
\nsqueetus.com<\/a>
\nlb-kids.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/storybook_of_legends.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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