"Ever After High"

My adorable 9-year old little sister, Emma, asked me to read these books and put them on here. She, like myself, is a very avid reader and we try to share books back and forth whenever we find something that will span the age gap between us. She lent me her "Ever After High" books, by Shannon Hale, and they are actually surprisingly good. It is a series consisting of three books that are written about the offspring of all our beloved fairy tale characters. Snow White's daughter, The Huntsman's son, the Evil Queen's daughter, Prince Charming's son...all of these characters that we grew up with have kids of their own who will one day take over for them and live their story. Meaning Snow White's daughter, Apple, will do exactly as she did and get locked up, then live with dwarves, then eat a poisoned apple and be brought back by her prince. Each child carries on the story by doing exactly as their parents did.

The first book, "The Storybook of Legends", gives an intro to all of the characters and then focuses on the relationship between Apple White and Raven Queen, the Evil Queen's daughter. Apple is so excited to live her mom's story and get her happily ever after, but Raven doesn't want to become evil like her mom. Raven rebels and decides to write her own destiny. The danger is that no one knows what will happen to Raven and the rest of the characters from her story, what kind of life will they have if it isn't already written out for them?

The second book, "The Unfairest of Them All", is about the rivalry between the royals - those who wish to follow their destinites, led by Apple White- and the rebels - those who wish to write their own stories, led by Raven Queen. The whole school is divided and friendships are tested as the students are forced to pick a side. The chaos reaches it's climax and the silly and loveable Madeline Hatter, the Mad Hatters daughter, is the one to face the consequences for the way everyone has been acting. With Headmaster Grimm threating to banish Madeline, the royals and rebels must learn to work together to save her.

In the process of saving Maddie, a beast from Wonderland is accidently let free into Ever After High which leads us to the third and final book, "A Wonderlandiful World". With a Jabberwock  on the loose spreading it's Wonderland magic everywhere, everything is going topsy-turvy. Chairs are amassing together for payback on the humans and windows are just up and leaving their walls, all will be lost in this madness unless the Wonderlandians (the characters from Wonderland) can brave their way through the ever changing school and kill the dangerous Jabberwock.

These books, though written for kids, are really good. The author has a beautiful way of writing that makes the characters come to life and practically fly off the pages. Each character is so detailed and so unique, you feel like you are right there at Ever After High with them. And they are not childish books, I'm 22 years old and I could hardly put them down. The way they are written is simple enough for someone in elementary school to read and understand, yet complex enough to catch and hold the attention of adults. Plus, I must say that it was fun to be swept away to a world where all of my favorite childhood stories existed together. No matter if you are 10 or 40, I recommend this series to you. Especially if you are looking for a book that you and your child can read together. Let me know how it goes!