Disney Princess Post- Sleeping Beauty Children's Books

So continuing with the Disney related theme of this week this review contains three quick reviews of my favorite Disney Princess: AURORA from SLEEPING BEAUTY!! 

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Sleeping Beauty: 

A Moment to Remember (2010)

Written by Catherine McCafferty

Illustrations by Disney Storybook Artists

Synopsis: Aurora simply wants to spend time with Prince Phillip, but she has had to stay busy with planning parties and other princess duties that they haven't had a lot of time to spend together lately! Well hopefully that will get remedied as soon as possible.

My feelings: This was only about a ten minute read for me, if that. A child would love this book. Its story is simplistic with that we should spend time with those we love. It also is about never having too much time for them as well. This premise made me greatly enjoy this short read. I could see a mother reading this to their child and the child greatly enjoying it. It is also heavily illustrated with beautiful drawings that a child would enjoy and a mother can point out while reading to engage the child. Overall a great read for such a short book.

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Aurora: 

The Perfect Party (2011)

Written by Wendy Loggia

Illustrated by Studio IBOIX and Gabriella Matta

Synopsis: The fairies have lived in the castle with Aurora for a year now, but they still miss aspects of the cottage they used to live in with her. Aurora decides to throw the fairies a party to bring back some of the woods to them in the castle. 

My Feelings: This is a bit longer read than the other two books on this list. This one is a chapter book for a little older audience than the other two. This book showcases the importance of helping friends and letting them know how much you care for them. Also it shows that you should be concerned about your friends like as well, since Aurora discovers what the three fairies are missing the most from the cottage and brings them to the castle for the party. The book has beautiful illustrations that can engage someone that is learning to read. Parents, I would recommend this to purchase for your kids that you are wanting to engage in literature, especially those that you know love the Disney Princesses. It was a pleasure to read this book and for an adult it didn't take that long to read (30 minutes). I walked away from it thinking that I definitely would want to get this for my own nieces, if they were younger. 

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Sleeping Beauty:

Aurora's Slumber Party (2010)

Adapted from an original story in "The Princess Party Book"

Written by Mary Man-Kong

Illustrated by Francesco Legramandi and Gabriella Matta

Synopsis: Prince Phillip is going to be away from the castle for a few days, so what better way to stay busy than invite your friends over for a slumber party? Aurora invites her fairy friends over and has a wonderful time teaching them that there is more to life than just their magic!

My Feelings: This was another quick read! I loved that this book had the message that there are times you should not take a shortcut (magic in this case) and other times you should (again with magic here). It also showed the importance of having friends and doing things with them. I really think that this is a book that children would enjoy, especially young girls. The book shows different things that you could do at a slumber party (like having a talent show). It would be somewhat educational for a young child, but also the illustrations would be something to discuss and engage with as well. I can see this being a book that a parent would read over and over again to their child that is going through a Disney Princess phase. If you don't mind that then you should definitely pick this one up for them. It will be worth your time and money!

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The Berenstain Bears: Night Before Christmas & The Nutcracker books or Wow, Cassie you still read the bears? Aren't you an adult? Yes I am but LOVE THEM!

Night Before Christmas Review & Rating - 

Out of the two books that I read I felt this was the weaker of the two. This was largely because it felt like it could literally have been any version of "The Night Before Christmas." There was no moment that made it feel like they put a "The Berenstain Bears" twist to it or even made it about those particular characters, even though they are represented in the artwork. It felt like it just regurgitated the original poem, verbatim. One of the interesting things for me about this series of books was that even when they used ideas that originated with someone else they put their own spin to it. They simply did not do that here. This does not mean though that a parent should avoid this book though to be read to their children. It is still a great way to introduce the characters to your children or even a fun way to introduce the poem to your children who may be a little more put off by the original works, but perhaps already have found a love for the bear family. 

Reason - This just felt like a basic retelling of the poem instead of it feeling like a fun rendition done by the Berenstain Bears. It is still, however, a great children's read.

and The Nutcracker Review & Rating - 

This was the better of the two books. The main issue I had with the previous book is not done here. They let the characters play out the story of "The Nutcracker." Making it squarely about them instead of about reading to children. I found this to be an enjoyable read, even as an adult, because of seeing how the cubs played out the story. Seeing who got which parts and how they would ultimately get to the conclusion in the limited number of pages that these books have. I also love how they put the Nutcracker into the story to begin with, so it felt organic to the world that they live in instead of a forced children's story that is just a retelling of the original material. I would highly recommend this as an introduction point to parents that love "The Nutcracker" and hope to one day introduce the Ballet/Play to their children. This is a good segway to that and to give them memories of it while they are too young to appreciate something with more adult sensibilities. This book also has a great sense of "Christmas Spirit" about it, so it is also a good read for those simply looking for a quick story for the holiday season and are not looking to put a lot of massive work into it. You get the Christmas feeling from it and you get transported into the world of imagination that I have came to associate with this series. You will appreciate it, even as an adult, if you like children stories.

Reason - The way that the Nutcracker comes into the story is done well. The retelling of "The Nutcracker" also directly involves members of the The Berenstain Bear's family, so it was a better book for the series. I highly recommend it to parent's to read to their children.

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Cassie Reads A Classic: "Winnie-The-Pooh" by A.A. Milne or "You mean DISNEY didn't create these characters?"

Winnie-The-Pooh

by A.A. Milne

Recently, I was purchasing books with my partner when we stumbled upon this book. He asked me if I had ever read it and I admitted to the fact that I had never had the opportunity. He said that he thought I would enjoy it, so we purchased it that very day. 

The book is a short story collection, in my opinion, even if it is appears to be broken up by chapters. Each chapter is a complete story and you become aware early on that the narrator is someone that is reading to Christopher Robin, one of the main characters. If you remember the Disney movie that first had Pooh appear you will be able to know the vast majority of these particular stories, as they stayed very true to the original source material. Normally Disney changes a lot, but this is not the case with the Pooh film. 

I rather enjoyed this short story collection. The minor differences from the film were that one or more characters did not help out in the same manners that they did in the film. The other difference was that this book does not contain the character of TIGGER at all. That made this more enjoyable to me because I feel that this particular character has become over utilized when it comes to this particular franchise. I enjoy the other characters, like eeyore, rabbit, and owl much more. Eeyore will always be my favorite character and seeing here his story about his missing tail was thoroughly enjoyable. I also enjoyed the fact that it felt that Piglet served as a more prominent cast member as well. While he is in many of the moments of the film it felt that he was actually a main character here in the book. 

The overall feel of the book is pretty upbeat and positive, even when the characters are faced with horrendous events (such as the endless rain). The book keeps a positive attitude about itself and as a result is a great book for those of a younger age. I would feel that this is appropriate for children to read, so parents do not worry about any of those issues here. This book will not contain anything too overly troublesome, unless you are bothered by talking animals or them saying "bother" for some in-explicit reason.  

I would write more about this book, but this is one of the few books that I am actually feeling like I am burning off from the old style of the blog, even though it does fit the primary theme of reading books that I never had the opportunity to read. I feel like starting in December and on I am doing what I truly want to do with the blog, so that is why this feels like a more rushed blog posting. I honestly cannot wait until December and the start of January when I feel like I am doing my own thing. This was a previously scheduled review, which is also part of the issue. I feel like I have more direction, more desire to pay attention to what is happening in a book, and more fun to be had while doing this blog, so even though this is not as in-depth as it could be do not give up. They will keep getting better, I promise!

Who I Would Recommend This Book To: Fans of Pooh, Children, Short Story Readers.

Who I Would NOT Recommend This Book To: Adults, Haters of Pooh, Those Looking For a Longer Read, and People That Do not Like Feel Good Stories. 

You can find me on Goodreads at

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You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!