Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esme Raji Codell Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.98 You Save: $4.01 (67%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.09 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Diary of a Fairy Godmother
Book Review: I love Esme Raji Codell!
Summary: 5 Stars
The cover alone should be enough to convince any preteen female to read it! Hunky Dory is close to graduating from witch school. Her proud mother proclaims she will be the "wickedest witch wherever the four winds blow." The problem is that Hunky isn't so into being bad. She drops out to practice "wishcraft" instead of witchcraft, to the dismay of her teacher. Hunky was the class star! Dropping out promptly gets Hunky kicked out of home, too. She sets up shop in a nearby forest, practicing as an amateur fairy godmother, doing good deeds in order to feel the warm satisfaction of a job well done fill her body. In her journey to turn good and become a legitimate fairy godmother, Hunky finds herself involved in various fairy tales like Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. This book has awesome illustrations that enliven the text, and it's fun from beginning to end. I would highly recommend it to a child of any age, especially ones that are a little goth, and to anyone who's interested in reading about witches and/or fairy tales.Book Review: This books is awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is awesome. Esme Raji Codell is the best young adult author writing today....she is an incredible talent.Book Review: Way Too Difficult for Elementary School Reader
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm a fifth grade teacher. Several of my students read the book before I picked up the audiobook to listen to. My student didn't like the book, and listening to it, I can see why. The humor is way over the heads of even some of my better readers. I've enjoyed it, but it's not a book I'd recommend to students.Book Review: The potential is there...
Summary: 3 Stars
What initially attracted me to this book is its writing style, and this could have been a charming and funny book if it weren't for a few factors:
1) The author knows her protagonist. Or does she?
In the beginning, the protagonist sounds like she has an attitude. Then she sounds like a goody two shoes. Then she just sounds like an airhead as she swoons over Rumpelstilskin. Then she just sounds like a typical protagonist, complete with hopes and morals. Sure, since she is (more or less) a teenager, mood swings are to be expected, but I think she's really developing a multiple personality disorder.
2) Goldilocks, Aurora, Cinderella, and the rest of the Familiar Fairy Tales cast appear one too many times.
Now, I thought the Harry Potter reference in the beginning was cute, but the rest of the references in this book just isn't. The background/"untold" story (possibly with a twist) for Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella and many others has been told so many times that it's just getting old and not funny. It probably would be all right had Codell known where to stop. But of course Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Big Bad Wolf, that woodchopper, etc. etc. has to pop up (and Glinda the Good Witch is mentioned! heck forbids). I say no.
It also bothers me because there are supposed to be a LOT of fairiy godmothers around, so how is it this protagonist is the one who gets to kind of cancels out Sleeping Beauty's spell and helps out Cinderella and all that stuff?
3) Too poorly structured.
The beginning is all right though future authors may want to remember that introducing that many names at once in a rush is always a bad idea. Then it just purely goes downhill. First, the conflict that the protagonist is facing is really kind of complex, but Codell makes it so easy to solve and consequently not believable. Second, while I'm aware that this is supposed to be in a diary format, the later entries are so bad in form. The transitions are nonexistent, so it's really like reading a sporadic diary of a thirteen-year-old girl or something.
To sum up: At a glance this book looks better than the average teenage pulp fiction, and while it is pretty clean, I will not especially recommend it. Rumpelstilskin clearly is there for a romance subplot, and that he and the protagonist doesn't end up together may be there to show that a romantic relationship is not everything, which is a good message in this love-crazed world, in my opinion. Still, the book is so terrible as a book that any positive messages are outweighed.
Book Review: A great read and listen!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't agree with the Audiofile review _at all_ and that's why I'm putting my two cents in! My eight year old loves this book and she and I both loved the audio version. The narrator is quite versatile and gives a thoughtful, imaginative and entertaining read. The story does slow down at times, but the narrator keeps the intrigue and I found myself listening to the CD's on my own all the way to the end because I really wanted to know how the book turned out!
The book is an unusual and clever twist on the rogue's gallery of classic fairy tale characters. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Codell and hearing more from Ms. Lillis.
More Diary of a Fairy Godmother reviews:
1 2
1 2