Sleeping Beauty

the illustrations in this book are beyond beautiful. So happy to see a princess that is a red head for a change! I could take every photo and put them in frames, that is how beautiful they are. I hope Erin Maguire does more of the classics for Disney...I will be her most devoted customer!

A nice simple retelling of the classic story of Sleeping Beauty. The artwork is beautiful and the paper/binding quality is excellent. It would make a nice children's book, especially for a child who enjoys fairy tales.

A retelling of Sleeping Beauty for kids. Since this is published by Disney I totally thought it was going to be based on the animated Disney version of this story. It isn't. It is a softer version of the story. There is no death mentioned, the bad fairy just curses her to sleep when she touches a spindle, and was forgotten because she was a recluse and no one knew she still existed. There are 7 good fairies instead of 3. The smart good fairy waits for the curse to give her blessing and then sets a limit on the length of the sleep, and she puts the others in the kingdom to sleep at their request to await for the end of that sleep. The prince doesn't have to fight a dragon or anything. He pretty much waltzes into the castle and kisses her hand and she wakes up. I was a little disappointed because Sleeping Beauty is my favorite animated Disney film and I was looking forward to illustrations and a rehash of that story. This is good, and very safe for kids, and the illustrations are beautiful. Just don't go in expecting the story you know from the animated movie (or most book versions either, this is the safest retelling I've ever come across...no violence, little malevolence, and even the kiss is safe being on the hand).

Love

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I read this to my first graders yesterday and they listened as if they were under a spell! :) 1. Great discussion material. Cynthia Rylant weaves in messages about time and waiting, the unexpected and the inevitable... Great for getting kids to dig in deeper to the story. 2. Age-appropriate. The curse in this version is that she will sleep forever rather than die. Also, the prince kisses her hand not her lips. I appreciated this for a classroom setting. 3. Gorgeous illustrations!!!