Sleeping Beauty's Daughters by Diane Zahler

And he and Ernie will have to do chores, like picking peas and scooping dog poop. Then, he breaks the model truck that’s one of the only things Grandma still has of his deceased uncle. Next, there’s no Internet, so the questions he keeps track of in his notebook (over 400 so far) will have to go un-Googled. The problems-including awkward references to stories from our world-distract, but fantasy readers should be willing to overlook the flaws for the satisfaction of reading a story about girls with agency who, though aided by others, find the solutions to their own problems.Ī refreshing fairy tale that breaks the passive-heroine mold.Įleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has “worry issues,” so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents “try to figure it all out,” he goes into overdrive.įirst, he discovers that Grandpop is blind. Aurora narrates the story-even through her inevitable sleep-and though the conclusion seems sudden and a bit too easy, Aurora’s and Luna’s growth is satisfying and real.

Along the way, they make new friends, encounter a disembodied spirit, man-eating beasts and a sea monster, among other dangers. Thus the sisters embark on a choppily paced sea journey to find the long-lost fairy godmother they hope can lift the curse. The girls hope they’ll have time to undo the spell, but Aurora pricks her finger and is soon fighting the pull of enchanted slumber. They are even more surprised to learn the reason for their sheltered upbringing is that 11-year-old Aurora has also been sentenced to sleep 100 years by the same vengeful fairy who cursed their mother. Two sisters quest to break a spell, even as one of them succumbs to the same curse that kept their mother asleep for 100 years.ĭemure Princess Aurora and reckless Princess Luna are shocked to discover that their fragile mother is the Sleeping Beauty of fairy-tale fame.

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters by Diane Zahler