A much nicer version of the story, with cool illustrations (does anyone know what that style is called? Ray Bradbury's The Homecoming looks similar, done by Dave McKean) and a female protagonist who uses her brain instead of waiting around to be saved! Excellent all around. ( )

In my opinion this is a fabulous book. The language is the strongest characteristic of the story mainly because the text is written in rhyming stanzas. For example the first stanza reads, “The day I was born, I was such a cutie. Mom and dad called me, their own Little Beauty.” The author’s use of rhymes makes this book inviting, and appealing, especially to younger children. I also appreciated the plot of this story, because it puts a twist on the classic story we know as Sleeping Beauty. In response to that, this story could be used as an instructional tool, where the students compare and contrast this story to the classic Sleeping Beauty. The main difference in this story, is that the main character, Little Beauty, tricked the witch and set her alarm clock just before she fell into deep sleep. Thus, the next morning Little Beauty awoke abruptly to the loud music of her alarm clock, instead of sleeping for the next century as the witch intended. Additionally, the plot is well constructed, as the conflict-resolution conveys the theme of defeating evil with trickery. Lastly, I loved the illustrations. They were all hand drawn and very unique looking. More importantly, they enhanced the language of the story. For example, as the author wrote, “mice played hopscotch in the pockets of her dress” (very good use of language as well), the illustration showed mice running around the dress of the witch, even though the illustration was busy with a multitude of other things happening in the background. The main idea of this story is to always "be on your toes" as logic and cleverness always trump power (especially corrupt power). ( )

This was a pleasurable book. The main idea of this book is to show readers that if you think hard enough you can solve any problem. One thing I enjoyed about the book was the rhyming words and how it was written in a poetic format. For example, "And she gave me a big kiss, for the pretty little miss." This is great for beginning readers and can make reading fun. I also liked how it was a spin on "Sleeping Beauty." The main character tricks her so she's not sleeping for 100 years. This keeps the interest of readers as it is not predictable. Lastly, I liked how there was a narrator at the bottom of the page. This was very unique and reinforced the main idea of each page which is great for struggling readers. ( )

I really liked this book because, for one, I love Sleeping Beauty. I loved the author's take on the original story. I also liked how the captions went along with the story. For example, the author says, "Will fall asleep and stay asleep for a whole hundred years," and then there is a picture of a man walking a dog and the man is saying, "Wow! Who would want to stay asleep for a hundred years?" That type of stuff is fun for children to read because it is outside of the actual text and I really enjoyed it as well. Another thing I really liked is the use of rhyme. This would be a really fun book to read aloud to a class.

I don't think there's an actual "big message" in this book. Because of the modern twist, Sleeping Beauty was able to be clever in fooling the witch by setting her alarm to her favorite rock star so that she woke up after pricking her finger. The big idea is transforming something classic into something modern and somewhat relatable. ( )

Summary: This book is a twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty. When the little girl is born her parents have a party for all of their friends and neighbors. They invite everyone except the witch that lives down the street. The witch comes anyway and tells the girl that on her fourteenth birthday she will prick her finger and she and everyone around her will be asleep for 100 years before she is awoken by a rock star. He parents try to keep her safe by removing everything that she could prick her finger on from the house. On her fourteenth birthday the witch is waiting for the girl in her bedroom. The witch asks the girl to put a record on the record player and she pokes her finger on the needle. She notices that she is becoming sleepy and her parents and pets are already asleep. When she wakes up the next morning her parents are still asleep and when they are awake they are surprised to learn that it is only the next day. The girls says she set her alarm clock and a rock star on the radio woke her up.

Review: I really like how the author did a modern twist on Sleeping Beauty. She was able to keep the main points of the story and changed some of the details to make it more modern. She left out the fairies and the dragon which made it more realistic but the witch and spell are similar to the original story. The story was also written in prose and it rhymed throughout which would make it a fun read aloud book. I think the author intended to keep this book light and entertaining. The illustrations went along with the slightly eerie theme of the book. ( )