Review: Sleeping Beauty: The Graphic Novel retold by Martin Powell

Sleeping Beauty: The Graphic Novel  retold by Martin Powell
Illustrated by Sean DietrichHardcover, 40 pages
Published January 1st 2009 by Capstone Publishers (MN)
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Once upon a time, an evil fairy cursed a young princess. On her fifteenth birthday, the princess pricked her finger on a spindle and fell into a magical sleep. Only the bravest soul will be able to awaken her.

 

My Review:

When it comes to Sleeping Beauty, the only story I have heard is the Disney version which is way different than this one. I own a copy of the original, which was my mom’s when she was younger, but I have never read it, at least not that I can remember. The original story of sleeping beauty is rather dark. A young girl is cursed by a witch to prick her finger on her birthday and then fall into a deep sleep.

This story is a little different because not only does the young princess fall into a deep sleep, but the entire kingdom. She is also not cursed by a witch but a fairy. There are 12 fairies in the kingdom that are all good and grant the new baby princess many grand things. However, the 13 fairy is not invited to the party and does not take it lightly. This is the fairy that places the curse on the princess. Then a young prince braves the trek through the overgrown vines to see if the legend of the sleeping princess is true.

The ending of this story was very anticlimactic. I don’t know if this is how the original story ends but I felt it could have been much better. At least the point where the curse is broken, it just sort of happens.

I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with the illustrations in this book but they weren’t bad. They had a watercolor look to them. This gave the darker illustrations a creepier look to them which was a nice touch.

This graphic novel, like the last few I have read, includes a page of all the characters in the front, and discussion questions, writing prompts, and a little bit of history on the last pages. Again, this is nice for classrooms or homeschoolers.

My Rating: