Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends Author: Visit Amazon's Shannon Hale Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0316401226 | Format: EPUB
Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends Description
From Booklist
Skeptics of books tied to toy lines will have to rethink their doubts when they read Hale’s series of Ever After High books, linked to a line of dolls by Mattel. Rollicking and filled with puns—one character refers to her bad schedule as a “major fairy-fail”—and incorporating an imaginative plot that assumes readers are fluent in folklore, this first in a new spin-off series, The Storybook of Legends, is a fun read. Milton Grimm, headmaster, expects students to sign an oath that they will agree to stick to their assigned plotlines. Raven Queen, however, is having doubts. She doesn’t want to follow in her evil mother’s footsteps and become the nemesis of her generation’s Snow White—she deplores being typecast. But if she defies tradition, will her story simply disappear along with herself and her story mates? Unexpected plot twists lead to an ending that, unlike a traditional “happy ever after,” promises continued intrigue in new outings. This is a good bet for those who can’t get enough of fractured and retold tales. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The toys are popular; thus, the books should follow suit. Cross promotions with Mattel should keep this in front of all the right eyeballs. Grades 4-7. --Karen Cruze
Review
Praise for Ever After High: Storybook of Legends:
"What's a girl to do when her mother is the fairy-tale world's worst evil queen? Follow in her footsteps? Never!
At the beginning of this series opener, it's the first day of school at Ever After High, where the offspring of famous fairy-tale characters begin their second year. For these students, Legacy Day beckons, at which time each will sign the Storybook of Legends and take the pledge to replay their parents' roles. Once they ink their names, the stories they spring from will be safely preserved, but if one does not, rumors have it that the tale-as well as the student-will vanish in a posthaste "poof." Most are all aflutter to fulfill their requisite destinies, but Raven Queen, the daughter of the exquisitely wicked Evil Queen, doesn't have an evil bone in her body. If she signs, she is duty-bound to poison Apple White (Snow's daughter), but she wants to create her own future. When Raven discovers that two fairy-tale sisters long ago broke their pledge, she enlists the sleuthing skills of her wacky roommate, Madeline (as in Hatter), and Apple herself to unravel the sisters' ultimate fate. Hale has created a delightfully revamped, newly fashioned cast of fairy-tale characters (and in hipper clothes no less-unsurprising, as the book introduces a new line of Mattel dolls) and gives readers a terrific protagonist to root for. Magic and humor abound, and fairy-tale wordplay flies.
Royal good fun."
—
Kirkus Reviews"Rollicking...a fun read...Unexpected plot twits lead to an ending that, unlike a traditional "happy ever after," promises continued intrigue in new outings. This is a good bet for those who can't get enough of fractured and retold tales."—
Booklist See all Editorial Reviews
- Age Range: 8 - 12 years
- Grade Level: 3 - 7
- Series: Ever After High
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 9.8.2013 edition (October 8, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316401226
- ISBN-13: 978-0316401227
- Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Okay, now before I start, let me say, I have read all of Shannon Hale's other YA books and Goose Girl and Rapunzel's Revenge will always hold a special place in my heart. Admitting that, along with the fact I am a major Ever After High fan, I will now commence with my review.
The book is centered around Apple White and Raven Queen, two students in Ever After High. For those of you not familiar with Ever After High, it is a high school where the sons and daughters of fairy tale characters go. On their second year, every student must pledge to follow in their parent's footsteps. If a student doesn't take the pledge, then the story they are in and they themselves will cease to exist. Apple White is the perfect future queen, caring, smart, beautiful and kind. Her only perceivable flaw is the fact she is blonde (so the book says, multiple times). She is ready to take on her destiny as queen. Raven, on the other hand, is the daughter of the evil queen. All her life, people have been telling her to be evil, and expected her to be a horrible person. Raven wants to be able to change her fate.
Raven and Apple are going into their second year at Ever After High, the year when they take the pledge. They are rooming together, and are very different people. Raven wants to choose her own fate, and Apple is trying to make sure that Raven stays on her path, so that the story will continue to exist and her own story will end happily ever after. The relationship between them is very Wicked Galinda-Elphaba. Neither really understands the other at first, but the gradually become friends, despite the fact that Raven will someday have to poison Apple. Awkward much?
I really didn't like Apple. Although she is just a pawn, she is very self-centered.
The Ever After High franchise is quite extensive. It contains dolls - each coming with a diary, the character's profile, and an in-package quote; a web series - with the first webisode appeared on Youtube on May 30, 2013; and several books by Shannon Hale (I'm counting the free Kindle releases as individual books). Plus, even more supplementary material on the official website.
For the most part, character portrayal is pretty consistent across the board. There are however a couple of characters that stuck out to me as being represented very differently in book then in rest of the EAH universe.
>>> MAJOR spoilers ahead.
The most noticeable change to me was in Baba Yaga's depiction. She's a faculty advisor at EAH and in the webisodes is shown to be a sweet-looking elderly lady who is firm to her students but flinches at glare from Headmaster Grimm. In Raven's doll dairy she is somewhat stern but still compassionate towards Raven, kindly granting her request to join Muse-ic Class - a course outside her core curriculum. On the official website, the backstory of a game level has her helpfully informing Raven about trilogy of books that would help her learn "good" magic.
In the book, she's a faculty advisor at EAH who has cockroaches crawling in her hair, sprays her charges with a squirt bottle like they were cats, and even once tells Raven to be grateful she doesn't turn her into a worm and feed her to a newt. She also scares the Headmaster with one of her high-pitched crackling laughs.
It's a complete 360 in her characterization, but I kinda like this cranky, witchier version of Baba Yaga in the book. I think the tougher incarnation suites her mythology better too.
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