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).