Review Detail

PRINCESS MINNA: THE ENCHANTED FOREST is an illustrated chapter book with a new twist on Sleeping Beauty. Minna is known for solving problems, so when a new problem arises - a neighboring prince has fallen under a spell cast by a mean fairy and fallen asleep after pricking his finger on a spinning wheel, Minna is on the case. She gathers up what she needs to save the prince and his kingdom and finds a way to save the day!

What I loved: This was a fun, new twist on Sleeping Beauty that takes what young readers know and delivers a fresh and entertaining new tale. The book is infused with a sense of humor that young readers will enjoy and tackles the classic fairy tale well. The book is highly illustrated with every page in full color (no white in sight!) that will work well for children bridging the gap between picture book and chapter book. This is extremely colorful and includes characters and images that bring the story to life.

The book has five chapters of varying length that make the pages turn relatively quickly, and so, this will work well for young chapter book readers who still really enjoy picture books and color. The story is also great for the early elementary school age, as they will likely have the context of the original tale to understand the ways in which this deviates with some silliness and humor along the way.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, some of the pages could be a bit tough to read, particularly those with black text on dark green backgrounds, especially in lowlight/bedtime settings. The varied chapter lengths also can make it tough to set down easily with expected reading times.

Final verdict: PRINCESS MINNA: THE ENCHANTED FOREST is a delightful and highly illustrated chapter book with a fresh new take on Sleeping Beauty that is sure to charm early elementary school aged readers.