World Princess Week – Cinderella and Belle book recomendations

It’s World Princess Week, so I’m sharing book recs for some of the Disney princesses. These are books I think they would read and love. I’m also sharing a retelling that I love for each one. (If you follow me on Instagram, you may have voted in the poll to help choose these princesses.)

First up is Cinderella. Some of Cinderella’s best qualities are often overlooked. She is kind – even in the face of unkindness she still remains kind. She is courageous – despite the unfortunate circumstances she faces she looks for the best in every situation, and she still dreams of a better life. She is confident – even though she has been mistreated, she still knows her own value, and she knows she is eligible to go to the ball despite what others try to tell her.

1. So This is Love by Elizabeth Lim – I chose this as the retelling of Cinderella. I really enjoy these twisted tales, and I absolutely love the cover of this one!
2. From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon – So after I read this, I immediately thought of the Cinderella motto – “Have courage and be kind”. Cinderella values both kindness and bravery, and Twinkle exhibits both of these qualities in this light-hearted read.
3. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon – Natasha faces adversity, but also finds some unexpected things, like falling in love, along the way.
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Katniss also faces hardship, but she still maintains hope for a better future.
5. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli – Stargirl stays true to herself despite what others do or say to her.
6. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – Pip’s adventures are much like Cinderella’s, and he also gets his happy ending.
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Fair warning: This book will make you cry, but the spirit of it is amazing! Liesel faces unspeakable horrors and still mananges to stay positive and rise above them.

You can shop for these books on my Bookshop list here.

Next up is Belle. Belle is a dreamer and a life-long learner, combing through books to find the knowledge she seeks. She also yearns for adventure. She values family – giving up everything for her father’s freedom. Belle is loyal, curious, and compassionate.

1. Lost in A Book by Jennifer Donnelly – This is my absolute favorite Beauty and the Beast book, so it had to be my retelling pick!
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – In the Disney version, Belle doesn’t have sisters, but her familial bond with her father is very strong. Family is one of the most important things to Belle. I also think she would relate to Jo’s independent spirit.
3. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley – Belle would relate to Daunis’s curiousity and drive to figure out what really happened to her father and her friend.
4. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson – Pippa also shows a desire to find the truth, just like Belle.
5. Educated by Tara Westover – This is the only nonfiction book on the list, but we all know Belle reads widely. She, just like Tara, has a desire to seek out the truth and learn everything she can.
6. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – Kaya was seen as different, and so was Belle. Yet like Belle, Kaya found ways to broaden her world through books.
7. The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick – Belle would pick this one up just based on the title alone (kind of like I did), and find enjoyment in the adventure Liz sets off on in an attempt to finish her late boss’s book.

You can shop these books on Bookshop list here.

Who is your favorite Disney princess? What book or books do you think they would read? Let me know in the comments. Up next is Mulan!

Unbirthday Book Review

This was book was my pick for January as part of the #fairytalereadingchallenge. If you missed the post about the challenge, you can check it out here.

About the Book

What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late?

Alice is different than other eighteen-year-old ladies in Kexford, which is perfectly fine with her. She’d rather spend golden afternoons with her trusty camera or in her aunt Vivian’s lively salon, ignoring her sister’s wishes that she stop all that “nonsense” and become a “respectable” member of society. Alice is happy to meander to Miss. Yao’s teashop or to visit the children playing in the Square. She’s also interested in learning more about the young lawyer she met there, but just because she’s curious, of course, not because he was sweet and charming.

But when Alice develops photographs she has recently taken about town, familiar faces of old suddenly appear in the place of her actual subjects-the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar. There’s something eerily off about them, even for Wonderland creatures. And as Alice develops a self-portrait, she finds the most disturbing image of all-a badly-injured dark-haired girl asking for Alice’s help. Mary Ann.

Returning to the place of nonsense from her childhood, Alice finds herself on a mission to stop the Queen of Hearts’ tyrannical rule and to find her place in both worlds. But will she able to do so . . . before the End of Time?

My Review

While I enjoyed this book, I did not think it was as good as some of the other books in the Disney Twisted Tale Series. I liked the way it portrayed Alice – an intelligent girl not easily swayed by whatever those around her believed. I loved that she was a photographer, and I liked how the author used Alice’s photography to connect her with Wonderland.

I also like how each Wonderland character had a real world equivalent, and I especially liked Katz.

This book had a fair amount of silliness, which of course is on par with the nonsense of Wonderland, and for a minute I was afraid I was not going to like how the book ended. The ending was unexpected, but satisfactory. However, the book is quite long, right at five hundred pages, and I think some of the silly stuff could have been cut without taking away from the story.

Also, I think I had pretty high expectations for this one after reading and loving Straight on Till Morning so much. It was enjoyable, but not my favorite of the Twisted Tales.

Have you read Unbirthday? What did you think of the book? Let me know in the comments!