I understand the desire to present more socially conscious stories to young readers. Rewriting fairy tales is an acceptable way to do it. I loved the title and the idea behind the book. But the messages overall didn’t sit well with me.

I feel that many of the issues addressed in this book were above the comprehension of most of the readers. What do K-3rd graders have to know about minimum wage or even homosexuality? The Little Mermaid suddenly turning lesbian without context isn’t empowerment. It’s confusing. I’m really tired of having homosexuality crammed down the minds of young kids. Sexualizing children isn’t empowering.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

Power to the Princess is an interesting approach to the traditional fairytale. Each tale is adapted and twisted to fit into a modern context by giving each princess a modern role or goal that still fits into 'fairyland', in Rapunzel's case, it is architecture, in Little Red Riding Hood's a park ranger. Some of the roles made sense however, I found that others felt forced or shoehorned in order to fit a predetermined narrative.

Sadly, there are a lot of similar books available on the market now and this one just didn't stand out the way I wanted it to.

The age range needs adjusting here as it is not suitable for the younger children, your older children yes as the stories are quite complex and may be difficult for a younger child to grasp. Some very deep issues are resolved in this book so would suit children of 9/10 and up rather than the 5-8 it depicts. Still a very inspiring read and one I would definitely love to own.

Yes. Yes. Yes! Power to the Princess offers us beloved princesses of well-know stories, but empowers them so that they do not need to rely on a prince. In fact, some of them are so empowered they work to affect change in social causes that they are passionate about.

This book. THIS BOOK! The physical design is gorgeous (I got a hard copy after reading an advanced copy through NetGalley), and the stories are fantastic. They're empowering and engaging, with fantastic illustrations to boot. This is now my go-to gift book for kids and grown-ups alike.

I appreciate how diverse this book is and each story brings a new element to modernize it; however, read cover to cover the book behind to feel like the result of a diversity checklist. Added to that, the princesses all feel remarkably alike. I fully recommend that others read this book, but for a greater impact the b stories should not be read all in a row. Instead pair one story with a few of the more "classic" versions of the same for a great conversation starter with kids.

I really loved the concept for Power to the Princess, taking 15 classic fairy tales and reimagining them with a modern, feminist twist. Unfortunately, as far as I was concerned, the concept ended up being far better than the resulting product.

The ideas presented in this collection are certainly interesting. Belle finds employment as an undercover agent at the “Fairyland Protection Dept. Office of Restorative Justice” working to break unfair curses, Ellia (Cinderella) sets up a cleaning business, Aurora trains as a physician specializing in sleep disorders, and the Little Mermaid (here called Marisha) works to combat ocean pollution. There’s also plenty of diversity on show with the princesses covering a range of ethnicities, and sexual orientations which is always fantastic to see in a children’s book.

My problem came with the writing itself which was just, in a word, bad. The stories felt dull, the characters one-dimensional, and the dialogue was downright terrible in places. Belle’s response to her beast becoming a prince is, and I quote, “Whaaaaaaat…”, while the three good fairies’ response to Maleficent (here renamed Jewel..) cursing Aurora is, “well that was awkward.” The book also had a knowingly smug tone that permeated through it with little comments and asides dotted through the text that quickly verged on becoming obnoxious. When Belle marries her prince, she becomes a princess, “but not that kind of princess”. You can practically see the author’s nose in the air as you read it.

If you can overlook the writing then this could be a fantastic collection for the next generation of young women, showing them how they can take their skills and interests and forge careers and friendships from them. For me, however, the writing was just too bad to ignore.

Power to the Princess takes classic fairy tales and makes them diverse, feminist, and empowering. At its heart, this book has a great sentiment and is timely--there's a lot of focus on diverse books and empowering books. Many of the messages of the fairy tale became about environmental sustainability, equal power, and kindness and boldness together. The illustrations reflected diversity in skin color, sexual orientation, body type, and ability. Despite all of these wonderful aspects, the execution of Power to the Princess was still a bit off. The short nature of each of the stories meant that the reader was very much being told the moral rather than discovering it naturally. Additionally, many story elements might be difficult for readers to understand without having already been exposed to these ideas first. Those who are ready to read at this level alone will likely be turned off by the format, instead hoping for longer and more complex fare. An excellent idea that stuttered a little on the landing.

'Power to the Princess' by Vita Weinstein Murrow with illustrations by Julia Bereclartu is a series of 15 famous fairytales that have been retold to be more "socially conscious." My review copy only included about half of the stories, but it was enough for an informed review.

In the stories I read, Cinderella (Ellia) gets mistreated on the job, so she forms her own company to protect workers and eventually becomes prime minister. Sleeping Beauty starts a sleep clinic and therapy office. The Princess of Pea fame is not frail at all and willing to return the favor of a bad night's sleep. The Little Mermaid becomes an ambassador of peace between people of the land and sea.

Do we need to rewrite fairytales for modern children? I thought it was an interesting idea when I requested the book. Fairytales are not history and they aren't necessarily sacred. What they are is timeless, but the stories in this collection do not seem to be timeless. They may be fine for a generation or two, but they won't endure like other stories have. If that's the case will they actually replace the original narratives?

They also include humor that is just too self-aware. Kids won't get the humor, and I cringed at the attempts. I'm not even sure these stories would hold much attention for young readers. I appreciate the attempt, but I feel like it missed here.

I received this ebook from Quarto Publishing Grou-Frances Lincoln Childrens and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

What Concerned Me: Where to start? While I do have to admit that some fairytales aren't appropriate for children, and probably never were as far as being too gruesome, I hate to have one totally rewritten but make it seem like it has roots intertwined with the earlier story. A fairytale is a fairytale. As authors have done in the past, write a fun, less scary tale with the same story. It's a make-believe story, not a way of life for girls and boys and wolves and kings and queens.

I'm feeling this theme of empowering girls is becoming forced and a bit over-done.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

2.5★
The stars are for the idea and the tone. These are cheekily retold fairy tales, modernised with can-do, kick-you-know-what girls who get out there and mix it with the best. There are some princes, and pals and fairy godmothers. That part is fun.

The Disney-fication of it is sacrilege! Sleeping Beauty and the prince were not Aurora and Filipp in my childhood. Please let's get kids to read real fairy tales and mythology. When they get to Thor some fine day, I don't want them to think that's Chris Hemsworth! And don't get me started on Belle the Brave, whoever she is. (Yes, I do actually know, more's the pity.)

I have read a preview copy, so I'd like to think somebody will have corrected the grammar and punctuation by now, but I don't really hold out a lot of hope. There are commas missing and commas stuck in for no apparent reason.

BUT BUT BUT - I love the idea! The illustrations are okay and getting the Little Mermaid to help invent something to clean the ocean is all very environmentally sound, too. Oh, and converting the Cloud Fairy (the name of the one who cast a spell on Sleeping Beauty) was interesting. Sleeping Beauty has been punished for being "different", and people are so sympathetic to her plight (fast asleep), that the Cloud Fairy bravely walks into the light, sees it ('sees the light', so to speak), and reforms.

These excerpts are fun and representative, although I hope I picked ones without too many editing problems. (You'll see pouring/poring.). The first is from the Snow White story about why the Queen starts looking in the mirror.

"One day, the king set off on a worldwide tour to care for soldiers wounded in battle. With the king away, the Queen took over all royal duties and public appearances. This included arts events, hospital openings, speaking engagements, ribbon cuttings, parades, races, charitable work, photoshoots, state dinners - the works. At first it was fun. The Queen dressed up and visited with interesting folk. Pictures and stories about her graced the covers of all the papers.

However, as time went on, the Queen realized people were more interested in what she looked like than what she did. Headlines included, 'Best Dressed List: is Our Queen On It?' and the rather more unkind 'The Queen’s Dress Disaster: what was she thinking?' Eventually, the time the Queen once spent preparing speeches, she instead spent pouring over magazines that compared her with glamorous queens from all over the world. The time the Queen once spent researching key causes, she instead used to sample lotions and potions with labels that read, Ageless Serum, and Wrinkle Evaporator, Skin Perfecto and Blemish Blaster."

She is inevitably upstaged by her popular young daughter, Neve, who has lots of good ideas, not just good looks. In fact, her daughter's hair turned white, and the Queen hoped that would diminish her popularity, but instead she's embraced her Snow White look, and they all love her!

[My Goodreads review has a screenshot of the Queen seeing the latest fan magazine with Snow White on the cover.]

Cute idea? Yes, of course. All of the permutations of the old stories are clever as well as earnest in their messages to do good in the world. Kids won't mind that.

The following is from The Little Mermaid, who wants to clean up the mess which is our oceans.

[My Goodreads review has an illustration saying to note the junk on the ocean floor.]

"When Marisha was nearly a grown up, her Grandmother told her how long ago, every Mer-Person before their sixteenth birthday was permitted to visit the land above. There they could share ideas, trade goods and learn about the human world. Marisha knew at once that this was what she wanted for her birthday. A reinstatement of the old ways! She was confident if she knew what the world up there looked like, how it worked, she could come up with a clean ocean plan.

On the morning of her birthday she tidied her cropped do, smoothed her jacket, and went to her father to appeal to him to visit the land above."

See? Lots of fun to read, but I wish some thoughtful editor had taken it under their wing and made it as great as it could have been.

Thanks to NetGalley and QuartoKnows Publishers for the preview copy from which I've taken the excerpts.

Fairy tales are a reflection of the time they were originally written in, so it makes perfect sense to rewrite fairy tales, just as a matter of course.

So, the expectation of these stories is that the women are more powerful, and don't follow the same well worn paths of their original stories. And for the most part, they do differently then they did before.

I like the concept more than I liked the execution though the pictures were fun.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/power-to-the-princess2.png">
<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/power-to-the-princess.png">

Probably more for older middle-grade, who have read all the original stories and want a change of pace.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Meh that is all I can see. The story concept had me super interested in this. I mean I am always looking for retelling of stories or stories with strong female leads especially for younger children. Not sure what age this is directed at but the characters seemed very similar and the stories didn't hold my attention. I did not want to finish it.

It is a fact that most fairly tales don't exactly empower female characters. Giving these stories a more feminist slant, though, doesn't have to mean absolute sanitation. A story can be dark and dangerous and still fair to female characters. These stories focus entirely on sharing, cooperation, and getting along with everyone. Sure, that's a positive view of life but it isn't realistic. Let's have heroines struggling against nearly insurmountable odds. I found these stories toothless and frankly dull.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy fromQuarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens for my unbiased opinion of the book. This is several fairytales with a modern day twist. I enjoyed the empowering change in these stories. I appreciate the author breathing a breath of fresh air into some of the antiquated tales,

Power to the Princess wasn't my favorite. I read this with my daughter and it didn't keep her attention very well. She loves princess stories, so that was a bad sign when they couldn't keep her attention.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

15 favorite fairy tales have been retold for children of today. They are smart, funny, and can take care of themselves. The idea of this book was great, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was pretty wordy and seemed like it might be the same story over again. It's an okay read for those that like remakes of fairy tales, they will probably like this.

This collection of stories are basically modern-type retellings that end with more power to the girl - so no happily-ever-after married to the prince. On the surface this sounds like a great idea but having read a lot of the original (and quite dark Grimm versions) there were a few things that made me go 'huh' or 'really?'.

For example, the character in the version of the Frog Prince is Evangeline - not a name I have seen in any original version but a name that I immediately associated with the Disney film The Princess and the Frog (the star was called Evangeline if you didn't know). Now that alone could be a coincidence but then in the Sleeping Beauty story the character is Aurora - which was also what Disney used as a name - I believe she was Briar Rose in the original. Basically these anomilies made me consider how original these new stories were or if they have been influenced by more modern traditional retellings (I mean, you don't get anymore traditional than a Disney movie if you want a happy ending).

Another major issue was the very text-heavy pages - not a lot of white space going on - and even as an adult I found it too much. And then there was the too much political correctness. Each story featured people from different ethnicities, gender identities...it was too much in one book. It feels forced and for some stories it just didn't work.

Perhaps I'm overly sentimental and actually liked having happily-ever-after books - I mean, a story doesn't need to end in a marriage to save the damsel but I wonder if perhaps these endings also give the same false hope to the next generation because not everyone will become a lead dancer, a famous artist...Try - sure but the success of one is usually at the failure of many more - something to consider.

Although I was enjoying this book I can do none other than rate it poorly because of the truly poor reading experience I had with it.

The book interested me because in some ways it's similar to one I am currently engaged in writing - variations on fairy tales. It perhaps doesn't need to be remarked to serious readers that there are too many reboots of fairy tale stories such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast on the market right now. I blame Disney and YA writers. The genre has become flooded with cheap knock-offs, and this means that if you have an idea for such a book, then you have to write something truly different to make a splash.

That's my plan and that was obviously also this author's plan. What I had feared was that she had beaten me to it, but our ideas are very different thankfully, and mine is aimed at grown-ups whereas her is aimed at a younger audience, so I am continuing with mine!

The thing is that you can't copyright an idea for a novel! You have to turn that idea into a book before you can consider it finished and this book truly is a well-finished work. It consists of several short stories based on traditional folk tales and commendably it goes back to the original roots of the stories, but then it amends them in diverse and inclusive ways. It's a great idea. There's no Disney all cis-gendered, all white-washed tales here thank goodness (at least based on what I managed to read)! The first three were Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Snow Queen.

Amusingly if annoyingly enough, the Snow Queen was where I was frozen out. Quite literally. I read the first two stories, but ran into increasing problems with the book ”sticking” such that I could not swipe pages nor enlarge or reduce them (the text is quite small even on my iPad so I had to enlarge each page for a better reading experience, not having falcon eyes!). I was reading it in Bluefire Reader on my iPad - an app I recommend highly.

Normally I have zero issues in Bluefire Reader, but it was becoming increasingly unresponsive with this book open, and it eventually locked up the app entirely. I closed and restarted only to run into the same problem. On a second restart, the novel wouldn't even open. I tried a reboot of the iPad, but this changed nothing, so I deleted the book from Bluefire and went back to Net Galley for a fresh copy only to find I could no longer download it - it's archived! I hope this isn’t indicative of the experience a regular reader will have.

I have to allow that I was irritated, to put it politely, at being frozen out like this, especially since I'd only downloaded this a few days ago. To me there's a contract when I agree to review a book: I will post a review, guaranteed. It would be nice to feel the publisher felt the same way and made the book available until the review was published, but I'm just an amateur reviewer and although I'm just as dedicated to this craft as professional reviewers (perhaps more so since I don't get paid for this!), I don't merit such considerations. That's just the way it is - and an argument in favor of print books, huh?! LOL!

It occurred to me that perhaps the book began misbehaving on my pad because it had been closed on Net Galley? I don't know, but they understandably have so many protections on these things these days that it would not surprise me if that happened. Usually when that happens, there is a note in Bluefire telling me the book has expired (in a non-fatal way!). So all I can conclude is that this was a poor or corrupted download copy. it would have been nice to have been able to fix that and finish reading it.

As I said, I was enjoying the book prior to this, but I cannot rate a book positively that gives such a poor reader experience, so this is why I rate this negatively.