Very Little Sleeping Beauty

Heapy and Heap bring readers the third Very Little tale.The tiny toddler protagonist is very excited for her birthday party tomorrow; so excited, in fact, that she can't sleep at all. In ways that will be familiar to every parent (and that may teach readers some new tricks), she prolongs bedtime with all manner of requests, the final one being a drink in her "special-est" cup. This last stymies Daddy, who can't find the cup. Rather than falling asleep during the long wait (as many a toddler might), she heads off to search the castle for him. Instead, she finds Aunty Fairy, an outlandishly attired woman with huge poofy pigtails and giant blue-tinted glasses, who has a gift for her. Unfortunately, Very Little Sleeping Beauty mistakes the spinning wheel for a steering wheel and, in her exuberance, breaks it. Aunt Fairy yells, the toddler cries, and Daddy puts things to right. By now, it's almost dawn, and the girl finally goes to sleep, but she can't be woken for her party, which is rescheduled as a pajama party that night. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations portray a white family (the party guests are diverse). The fairy-tale elements--the castle home, the spinning wheel gift--seem more than a little out of place. Very Little Red Riding Hood (2014) was a miss, Very Little Cinderella (2015) was a score. This spin on "Sleeping Beauty" makes it a pattern: miss. (Picture book/fairy tale. 3-6) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-The night before Very Little Sleeping Beauty's birthday party, her father says she needs to go to bed early, but Very Little Sleeping Beauty is not very tired. Instead, she asks him for a song ("A proper sing-song song!"), to play, and to get her bedtime necessities like her bear, her blanket, and her "drink in her special-est cup." When it takes Daddy a long time to come back, Very Little Sleeping Beauty decides to search high and low, until she finds Aunt Fairy with a special gift, a spinning wheel that Very Little Sleeping Beauty thinks is a wheel for pretend driving. After playing, accidentally breaking the wheel, and apologizing to Aunt Fairy, Very Little Sleeping Beauty sleeps through the entire next day until she wakes up just in time for her birthday pajama party. The watercolor and ink illustrations are vibrant and playful, highlighted by the plain white backgrounds that dominate the book. Only three pages have a different color background, subtly showing that Very Little Sleeping Beauty is scared or braving the dark. The text has a great read-aloud rhythm that encourages kids to predict what will happen next, with font size variations that help emphasize certain parts of the story. Fans of Heapy and Heap's previous titles will enjoy seeing cameo appearances of previous characters at the end of the book. VERDICT A fun fractured fairy tale that will quickly become a read-aloud favorite.-Rebecca Quinones, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

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