Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling

TITLE: The Ugly Stepsister (Unfinished Fairy Tales Book 1) 

Author: Aya Ling

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Publication Date: June 10, 2015

Length: 453 Pages



This book review was written by guest blogger Cindy Phelps Thomas.


About The Author
Aya Ling is from Taiwan, where she struggles daily to contain her obsession with mouthwatering and unhealthy foods. Often she will devour a good book instead. Her favorite books include martial arts romances, fairy tale retellings, high fantasy, cozy mysteries, and manga.

A Cinderella Story
Kat is a shy, clumsy, nervous-around-cute-boys type of girl. She lives with her mom and her sister Paige.  On a day as normal as any, she roams up to the attic to sort through an old box of books for her mom. Inside the box is a book of Cinderella, which falls apart as she picks it up. Kat trips and falls down the stairs as she takes the book to show her mother.

The next thing Kat knows, she has been transformed to another place in time and has become Katriona Bradshaw, daughter of the late Earl Bradshaw. A goblin named Krev appears and informs her that the book was cursed by his King. The only way she will be able to return to her family is to complete the fairy tale from the page she tore to the “Happily Ever After”. 

The problem is she tore the FIRST page! Kat has no idea how or where to start. She only knows that she lives with her mother and beautiful sister, who both seem to dislike her and her ordinary looks, but shouldn’t there be a third sister? Where is Cinderella? And for that matter, who and where is the Fairy Godmother? And how on earth is she going to convince a prince to hold a ball to find a wife, when he is publicly known to dislike social events?

Kat has a lot to do, but she knows that if she ever wants to see her mom and all of the modern day luxuries she has come to love, she has to find a way!

My Thoughts
This book was a great retelling of an old fairy tale! I love the different twist that the author gave it by telling it from the viewpoint of the ugly stepsister. Her writing and descriptions took me back in time. Her characters are well developed, and the descriptions are wonderful. I highly recommend this book for anyone from tweens through adult.  

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Fractured Fairy Tales ~ The Three LIttle Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

I have had a propensity for fairy tales and fractured fairy tales for many years. A "fractured fairy tale" is a fairy tale that has been modified in such a way as to make us laugh at an unexpected characterization, plot development or contrary point of view.

Many fractured fairy tales have been written based on the classic story of "The Three Little Pigs." I recently wrote about "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka.

Today I am going to tell you about another version of "The Three Little Pigs".  "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig", by Eugene Trivizas, tells about three cuddly little wolves and a big bad pig. This book was published in 1993 and is still considered one of the most popular "fractured" versions of "The Three Little Pigs".

About The Author

 Eugene Trivizas is a Greek sociologist and author of children's books.

Three Cuddly Little Wolves

Once upon a time, there were three cuddly little wolves who lived with their mother. One day their mother told them it was time for them to go out into the world and live on their own.

The first wolf built a house of bricks, the second built a house of concrete and the third little wolf built his house with concrete, barbed wire, iron bars, armor plates and heavy metal padlocks.  Wow! What kind of pig could break down these houses?

This pig was very, very bad. He knocked down the brick house with a sledge hammer. He smashed down the concrete house with a pneumatic drill. He BLEW UP the concrete compound with DYNAMITE!

The wolves did not know what to do. They were seriously afraid for their lives. A friendly flamingo just happened to be passing by with a wheelbarrow full of flowers. The wolves decided to build a house with the flowers!

When the big bad pig came to destroy the house of flowers, something very unexpected happened. When he smelled the fragrant scent of the flowers, his heart grew tender and he realized how bad he had been. The wolves invited the pig to live with them, and they lived happily ever after.

My Thoughts

At the end of the story, we can draw the conclusion that the pig was mean because he didn't have any friends. The wolves were worried at first because they thought it might be a trick. They soon realized that the pig had truly changed, so they played with him and invited him into their house.

I have read this book aloud to children dozens of times. It never fails to hold their attention to the very end. The pig needed friendship and acceptance. This is a wonderful lesson for children of all ages.

Click HERE to see "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" on YouTube.

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Golden Oldies For Kids ~ The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs

Was Alexander T. Wolf framed? Was it all an unfortunate accident?

"The True Story of The Three Little Pigs", by A. Wolf (As Told To Jon Scieszka) is one of my favorite "fractured" fairy tales. This story was published in 1989 and has been very popular with children for over 20 years.

You may think you know the story of The Three Little Pigs but there are two sides to every story. The story begins with A. Wolf explaining that the real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar. He was making a birthday cake for his dear old granny and ran out of sugar. He also happened to have a terrible sneezing cold.

Was The Wolf Really Big And Bad?
Mr. Wolf walked down the street to borrow a cup of sugar from his neighbor. The neighbor happened to be a pig. The pig also happened to  have a house made of straw.
Mr. Wolf knocked on the door but the pig did not answer. Unfortunately, the wolf felt a sneeze coming on. He huffed and snuffed and sneezed a great sneeze. The whole darn house fell down and the little pig was dead. The wolf did not want to let a perfectly good ham go to waste, so he ate the pig for dinner.
Mr. Wolf had a similar experience at another neighbor's house. He finally came to a brick house and knocked on the door. The pig was rude and insulted the wolf's granny. When the cops arrived, the wolf was huffing and puffing and sneezing and making a real scene.
The story ends with the wolf behind behind bars and a police officer (a pig, of course) was guarding his cell. He had been framed.

My Thoughts
I read this book aloud many times when I worked as an elementary school librarian. The children could hear this same story over and over again...they always loved it.
The wolf is so convincing that he almost convinces the readers that he really was framed and it was all an accident. This is a perfect book for a "point-of-view" lesson. It was fun to ask the children to compare the original "Story of the Three Little Pigs" with this book. The final question was always, "Who do you believe and why?"

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Children's Picture Books For The Kindle

There is no doubt that my Kindle is my very favorite electronic gadget and I am loving it more everyday.  My husband bought himself an iPad for Christmas and says that it's the cat's meow, but I am sticking with my Kindle. 
I worked as an elementary school librarian for many years and I still enjoy keeping up with the latest trends in children's literature.  I have read several children's picture books on the Kindle, but the illustrations are in black & white (no color on the Kindle) and often times too small to see the details.  The illustrations are an important part of the story in any good picture book. 
Jed and Roy McCoy, A Christmas Story (Cecil and Friends) was offered as a free Kindle book a couple of weeks before Christmas.  I would say that this book was written for children from K - 2nd grade. The story was pretty good but several of the black & white illustrations were too small to really see the detail. 
I did some research on children's books for the Kindle and found the following blog article by Alan Sitomer ~ Why I chose to publish for the eReading format before the traditional print format for my newest book.

Mr. Sitomer is the author of a newly published book named Cinder-Smella, A Timeless Tale of Stinky Feet.  This book is only available in the Kindle version. 
I found that the price of the book was only $1.99 so I purchased it on the Amazon site and a few seconds later I was reading it.  This book is designed especially for the Kindle so the illustrations are large and the detail is much better than the other children's books that I have read on the Kindle.  I have read many "fractured fairy tales", but this is one of the most delightful Cinderella stories that I have ever experienced.  This book will have chidlren and grown-ups laughing out loud.  I especially like the advice Cinder-Smella's Hairy Fairy Godfather gave her before she went to the ball, "Have faith, Cinder-Smella, In this world you must always have faith. When the time comes, you'll know what to do."
The story has a happy ending in more ways than one.  I hope that many more children's picture books will be written especially for the Kindle (and other eReaders).  I am sure it is only a matter of time before the Kindle will have the ability to provide color illustrations to all it's electronic publications.
Kids of all ages will want to read books on Mom's and Dad's Kindle. This will be a huge market and a very rewarding market for children's authors and illusrators who are willing to adapt and go with the flow.
I would love to lend Cinder-Smella, A Timeless Tale of Stinky Feet to the first person who posts a comment to this blog.  Just tell me you want to read Cinder-Smella and I will email you a copy.  If you are not familiar with Amazon's new program for lending Kindle books, please read Lending Kindle Books.