Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

Premise: Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change. Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. (from Goodreads)

Title: The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Author: Christopher Healy
Length: 436 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Re-invented Fairy Tale
Series or Stand-Alone: 1st book of (currently) 3
Content appropriate for: Grades 3-8
Format: Hardback in the classroom library

Three adjectives that describe this book: hilarious, creative, adventurous

This book is a rollicking good time with lots of witty humor along with bad puns, fun characters, and a witch with an evil plot. I absolutely loved the way Christopher Healy played around with gender roles and stereotypical fairy tale characters. Healy crafted a book with a distinct authorial voice, and a world of terrifically crafted characters. So fun!

My only complaint is that it got a little slow in the middle. The novelty was wearing off and the climax was a few too many pages away, while the characters traipsed about it in the woods... I wonder if Healy should have shaved 50ish pages off the middle. Overall there was TONS of action, though, so it's only a minor complaint.

Overall, a solid 4 stars!

This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.