Time for another far-out fairy tale courtesy of a brilliant duo who have wowed us previously with a truly stratospheric take on Cinderella ("Interstellar Cinderella" - check out our review elsewhere on this blog!)

In "Reading Beauty" Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunt take on the tale of Sleeping Beauty, this time updating the central character to a cool blue-haired little girl who simply adores books.

Her parents encourage this excellent habit, right up until one birthday when suddenly poor Lex's books are all taken away from her without a word. She does discover that a wicked fairy has cursed her to suffer that terrible fate of all book lovers - a paper cut - on her birthday, a paper cut that will send her to sleep for a thousand years.

Lex isn't going to stand for that though, and along with her trusty poochy sidekick she confronts the fairy and discovers the truth of the curse - and how to reverse it for good.



Sum this book up in a sentence: A rollicking version of a classic tale brought bang up to date, with a truly brilliant diverse set of characters and a fab core message about a love of books and where it can lead you.

"Reading Beauty" by Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunt is out now, published by Chronicle Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

She's sassy, she's brilliant, she has the most amazing hair but most importantly she's a proper Cinderella for the mightiest of mighty girls. Our first Book of the Week this week is Interstellar Cinderella!