The Snoring Princess

Princess Rosa is missing! The Princess disappears from her palace on the day a hundred-year sleeping spell is set to end. If Princess Rosa is not back by sunset, the spell will start all over again! Kara and Zed—along with a fairy from the palace—go looking for her. But can they find Princess Rosa before the sun sets?

Kara, Zeb, and a magical pig are off on their next mission—finding Zeb’s missing royal messenger bag. Along the way, they stumble across a tower and discover Princess Rosa is also missing. While The Snoring Princess is an imaginative retelling of Sleeping Beauty, the story is a little disjointed and most of the events do not make sense. For example, Kara and Zeb find Princess Rosa who continues to sleepwalk down a cliff and then float down a river all without hurting herself or waking up. While some of the events are silly, many of them are unbelievable even for a fairy tale.

The Snoring Princess is part of Scholastic’s Branches early chapter books, which have easy-to-read text and illustrations on every page. The story uses short descriptions and dialogue to keep the story moving at a fast pace. Black and white illustrations appear on every page and help break up the text into manageable sections. The engaging pictures will help readers follow the plot. Plus, the book ends with four reading comprehension questions and one activity. Even though The Snoring Princess is part of a series, each book can be read as a stand-alone.

Unfortunately, in The Snoring Princess, Kara and Zeb solve the mystery more by chance than by following the clues. However, young readers who are familiar with the Once Upon a Fairy Tale Series will enjoy seeing Kara and Zeb back in action. In the end, a lying fairy does the right thing by telling the truth. The conclusion reveals an unexpected villain, who isn’t evil. Despite the plot’s flaws, readers who are transitioning to chapter books will enjoy the book’s illustrations and the silly magical pig. If your child loves fairies, check out both the Candy Fairies Series by Helen Perelman and Disney: The Never Girls Series by Kiki Thorpe.

Sexual Content

• None

Violence

• When Kara grabs a fairy, the fairy “shot red sparks at Kara’s fingers.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

• None

Supernatural

• The story takes place in Sleeping Beauty’s world, where magic exists. Sleeping Beauty is “the princess who was cursed by an evil fairy when she pricked her finger on a sewing needle. The curse made her fall into a deep sleep for one hundred years.”
• Zed and Kara meet a fairy who tells them, “Fairies can actually change shape and size. It’s one of our magic powers.” Later the fairy uses his magic to make a hat. The fairy “raised his hands and wiggled his fingers. Sparks of magic danced between his fingertips. Then a small sun had appeared in Leon’s hands.”
• The fairy “held his hands over the water and wiggled his fingers again. Sparks began to fly from his fingertips. Slowly, the bottom of a boat appeared. Then the sides. Then the oars. Then the anchor.”

Spiritual Content

• None