Princess Minna: The Big Bad Snowy Day

Princess Minna is a very hands on Princess who helps the people in her kingdom. When she goes to help Granny Hoodie who has been snowed in, she ends up helping a lot of people who have been upset by the Big Bad Wolf.
What I Liked: I like the way some traditional tales are woven into the story, but with a different outcome. Minna is a likeable character who throws herself into things. The illustrations are fun and colorful too. There are a lot of characters, but I think children will like the longer story as each of them meet Minna.
What Left Me Wanting More: Its probably just me, but having the wolf be nice was strange, but I am used to the older fairytales. At least he apologized for what he did in the end. This might teach kids not to judge someone by their appearance.
Final Verdict: An entertaining story that kids will enjoy. It is easy to read and could be a good book for kids who are learning to read. Highly recommended

PRINCESS MINNA: THE BIG BAD SNOWY DAY is a delightful chapter book with colorful illustrations and an adventure. Princess Minna wakes up to a snow day and is excited to play in it - but the kingdom needs her help! Her grandmother has been snowed in, and she must go and save her before the big bad wolf finds her. As Minna travels, she finds other people whose houses have been blown down by the big bad wolf.... except when they find him it turns out he was only trying to play with them and his sneezes are just too big! At the end of the story, they all end up at grandmother's house having a fabulous snow day!

What I loved: This was a fun story with a clever twist on the big, bad wolf. He was actually just misunderstood. While there were no further repercussions, they all learn to dig a little deeper and seek to learn more instead of jumping to conclusions. A solid lesson for any of us. The story is full of full-page illustrations and bright colors which will appeal to young readers. The characters and settings really come to life with a lot of wintery flair, which makes it a great fall/winter read!

The font is large and clear with cues to help place emphasis on key words in the sentences. This is formed like a chapter book but with slightly shorter chapters that work well for independent readers stepping into the chapter book format. Varying word and sentence difficulty help readers build confidence while also challenging themselves and their reading skills along the way.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, it could have been nice to have some kind of apology/fixing of the mistakes of blowing so many peoples' houses down. While it was a mistake, it still would have been nice to show them helping or talking about how they are going to fix that. That being said, I appreciate that they addressed the misunderstandings and the power of assumptions.

Final verdict: PRINCESS MINNA: THE BIG BAD SNOWY DAY is a charming twist on the story of the Big Bad Wolf that works well for budding chapter book readers!