Book Review: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

Enter a world where everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems.

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change. Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, and its, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

There’s a lot you don’t know about Prince Charming…

Debut author Christopher Healy takes us on a journey with four imperfect princes and their four improbable princesses, all of whom are trying to become perfect heroes—a fast-paced, funny, and fresh introduction to a world where everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems. THE HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM is the first in a series about Princes Liam, Frederic, Duncan and Gustav.

I love fairy tales and especially am a fan of retellings, so I was very excited to read this book, which looked like it would be a hilarious middle grade novel.

I can't say which prince I loved more. They all had some odd qualities that made me laugh at times. None of them were all that normal in the way of princes. I loved how the princesses were at times a bit more on the strong side. The adventurous Cinderella, the evil Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel who saved herself and healed her prince. And as for storytelling, Healy does a fabulous job of wrapping several stories into one and including humor at every turn. I absolutely could not put this book down and when I was forced to, I kept thinking about the plot and the characters.

Final Verdict: I can't wait to talk this book up to my students and see if they love it as much as I did.

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Kristen

Kristen is the co-blog owner of The Book Monsters. Kristen is an Elementary School Library Media Specialist in the Chicago suburbs who loves reading. Why else would she be a librarian?

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