Friday, May 20, 2011

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior (fiction)

It's Eliza Doolittle Day, honoring the streetwise flower seller transformed into a society lady by Professor Higgins (Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw).

So here's a classic transformation tale with a twist. Cinderella: Ninja Warrior (first of the Canadian author's Twisted Tales series) spices things up a bit and lets readers select alternate paths through the middle of the story! Yes, it's "Cinderella" meets "Choose Your Own Adventure" meets "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" - well, not really Ninja Turtles, but lots of magic, wizardry, ninja skills, and that really evil stepmother.

You want some escapist, have-a-fun-time reading with a feisty heroine and a few surprises? Then this is your book! And you can share it with younger readers, too - lots of action, coy romance, and bad guys getting what they deserve, whichever path you choose! I can't wait to read #2, Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer!
**kmm

Book info: Cinderella: Ninja Warrior / by Maureen McGowan. Silver Dolphin, 2011. [author's blog] [author's website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Cinderella discovers that ninja training enhances the concentration and strength needed to improve her magical abilities in this “choose-your-path” version of the classic tale. Her evil stepmother is a strong wizard, nearly as strong as Cinderella’s late father and mother were, but only uses her powers in evil ways. If Cinderella can just improve her martial arts and magical abilities enough, she might escape past the ravenous wolves of night or break the daylight locking curse that her stepmother placed on every door and window of her father’s house…

Lucky that her cat pushed that ninja skills book off the enchanted shelf in her father’s old study, lucky that Max kept pawing open the book so she would try the skills, lucky that her stepmother never came into the dank cellar where Cinderella practiced – but can she learn these difficult skills without a real teacher?

When the King sends invitations to a fabulous ball so that Prince Tiberius may select a bride, Cinderella must decide whether to risk her stepmother’s wrath by attending or to stay home from the ball, perhaps forever – the first of the reader’s three options to choose the path of the story.

A curious royal messenger, martial arts contests, trials by magic, mistaken identities, mystical transformations – your choices make every reading of this classic fairy tale into a new story. Enjoy a great new twist on an old favorite as you select Cinderella’s path, cheering for our heroine and booing at her wicked stepmother. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) (Advance readers copy courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley)

1 comment:

  1. This sounds perfect for my daughter who isn't into the traditional princess story! Thanks, as always, for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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