Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 65

New Release: Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

(US/UK Links)
Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen is released today and also in the UK, see it at Beastkeeper (UK Link). Publishers Weekly and Kirkus have both given it starred reviews. And it is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. So what are you waiting for? What am I waiting for?

Book description:

Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

New Release: Dearest (The Woodcutter Sisters) by Alethea Kontis

(US/UK Links)
Dearest (The Woodcutter Sisters) by Alethea Kontis is released in the US tommorrow. It will be released officially in the UK on 3/1/15 at Dearest (Woodcutter Sisters) (UK Link). This is the third book in the series and eagerly anticipated by many series fans. I think I am happiest that it is primarily a Six Swans/Wild Swans retelling.

Book description:

Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?

Bargain Ebook: Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley for $1.99

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format. This is the first time the ebook has been on sale and is usually in the $7 range. It may not appear so in the description, but it is a Cinderella retelling.

Book description:

In the little village of Castle Down, in a kingdom plagued by war, lives a peasant girl called Bella. Blessed with a kind family and a loving friend, she manages to create her own small patch of sunlight in a dark and dangerous world. Bella is a blacksmith's daughter; her friend Julian is a prince -- yet neither seems to notice the great gulf that divides his world from hers.

Suddenly Bella's world collapses. First Julian betrays her. Then it is revealed that she is not the peasant she believed herself to be: She is Isabel, the daughter of a knight who abandoned her in infancy. Now he wants her back, so Bella is torn from her beloved foster family and sent to live with her deranged father and his resentful new wife. Soon Bella is caught up in a terrible plot that will change her life -- and the kingdom -- forever. With the help of her godmother and three enchanted gifts, she sets out on a journey in disguise that will lead her to a destiny far greater than any she could have imagined.

Fairy Tales in Advertising: Oreo: Snow White

Oreo: Snow White1912 | Snow White and the 7 dwarfs on broadwayThis year, OREO turns 100 years young.Celebrate the kid inside at oreo.com/birthday.
True confessions again: I hardly ever, ever, ever look at print magazines. So I missed this Oreo campaign back in 2012. Which I adore and can only share a few of. Only one is fairy tale related and it made me laugh. And want Oreos. Or perhaps Oreo ice cream, which I prefer. I am an anarchist and wish Oreos came without the frosting centers, just the wafers which I do like. Silly me.

And you just know they wanted to do a Disney salute instead to the 1937 film but settled for a Broadway show instead since they fell in love with this concept and didn't want to use Disney in the campaign. Glad they kept the concept though. I had no clue about a Broadway show of Snow White in 1912. Not impacting history much, that production. But we all know the truth, don't we?

Campaign info from Ads of the World:

Advertising Agency: Draftfcb, USA
Executive Creative Director: Darren Moran
Creative Director: Megan Williams
Group Creative Director: Jill Applebaum
Creative Director / Art Director: Megan Sheehan
Copywriters / Art Directors: Jill Applebaum, Bob Neuman
Executive Producer: Anthony Nelson
Photographer: Richard Pierce
Concept: Pierre-Marie Faussurier, Sebastien Zanini
Designers: Yego Moravia, Johnny Por Taing, Bangwool Han
Art Producer: James Kozyra
Published: March 2012

Art Thursday: Fairy Tale Illustrations by John Lawson

Babes in the Woods
Today's art are color illustrations by John Lawson for the book, There Was Once: Grandma's Stories, by Mrs. Oscar Wilde published circa 1890. 
Cinderella
Grandma's Stories
Jack the Giant Killer
Little Red Riding Hood
Puss in Boots
The Three Bears
Art Credit: All Prints (chromolitho), Lawson, John (19th century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images

New Book: Sleeping Cinderella and Other Princess Mix-ups

Sleeping Cinderella and Other Princess Mix-ups by Stephanie Clarkson (Author), Brigette Barrager (Illustrator) is released this week.


My niece Kensie currently adores Falling For Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox. I am tempted to order this for her birthday next week although I have already spent my birthday budget for her. I know she would adore this, too. She is also rather obsessed with Snow White since that is the one Disney film her mother won't let her see. Which only makes her more obsessed with it. When she isn't obsessed with Elsa, of course.


I am not sure of a UK release date, there isn't one listed so far at Sleeping Cinderella and Other Princess Mix-Ups (UK Link).

Book description:

Princesses Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel swap fairy tales with one another in this hilariously clever new classic!

Once upon a time, four fairy tale misses,
tired of dwarves, witches, princes, and kisses,
so bored and fed up, or just ready to flop,
upped and left home for a fairy tale swap.

What happens when Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel get so fed up with their fairy tales that they decide to switch places with one another? Hilarity ensues in this clever, rhyming story about whether the grass really is greener at someone else's castle.

Author Stephanie Clarkson crafts an incredibly witty manuscript, with rhymes that shine and predicaments that will make little girls everywhere laugh out loud, as illustrator Brigette Barrager brings these beautiful princesses to life with her rich, warm colors and charming retro-girl style!

First of Meyer's Three Lunar Chronicles on Sale for $2.99 Each

While today is the official release day of New Release: Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer, the first three books in the series are all on sale for $2.99 each. They've all been on sale previously, but not always at the same time. Either way, you can get all four books for less than $20 which is a great price, too.


Book description for Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles Book 1):

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Book description for Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles Book 2):

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.
An NPR Best Book of 2013

Book description for Cress (The Lunar Chronicles Book 3):

In this third book in Marissa Meyer's bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

New Release: Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

(US/UK Links)
Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer is released today in the US and the UK. See Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story (UK Link). This is the 4th book in Meyer's science fiction fairy tale series, a bestselling series and the newest book has been on the bestseller list as a preorder for weeks. So most likely you are a fan, too, and have already preordered.

Book description:

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

New Release: Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale

(US/UK Links)
Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale is released this week in both the US and UK. See Big Bad Detective Agency (UK Link).

This is the start of a new series by Bruce Hale whose Chet Gecko series I used to recommend to kids a lot back when I worked in a library

Book description:

From the comic genius behind CHET GECKO comes a new kind of fairy tale hero -- and a big, bad, crime-solving adventure!

The houses of all Three (not-so-) Little Pigs were broken into and ransacked, and the Pigs are squealing for justice. So Prince Tyrone, ruler of Fairylandia, drags in the obvious suspect: Wolfgang.

The lone wolf has big teeth, sharp claws, no alibi -- and a single day to find the real culprit and clear his big bad name. When Wolf (reluctantly) teams up with the fourth Little Pig to crack the case, the Big Bad Detective Agency -- and an adventure way funnier than your average fairy tale -- is off to a howling start!

Emma Watson Will Be Belle

Slow news day, I think, since Emma Watson's announcement that she will be playing Belle in Disney's live action version of Beauty and the Beast has been a top news story all day. I think that is fine casting and all, but didn't expect to see it as a top headline on CNN. See Emma Watson to play Belle in new live-action 'Beauty'.

Now what really want to know? Who will play the Beast? And Gaston?

And what will be the next live action Disney movie? We're getting Cinderella, Maleficent was technically Sleeping Beauty, so what will follow Beauty and the Beast? Little Mermaid? Tangled?

And although I don't cover film much these days and leave that fairy tale realm to Gypsy at Once Upon a Blog, I was fascinated with the media blitz on this. I do think Emma Watson is a great choice. Apparently so do a LOT of readers. Even E! already has an article about how great she is for it. See 10 Reasons Why Emma Watson Will Make the Best Belle Ever.

2. She can really put a man in his place. Because someone's gotta tell the Beast when he's being a real ass. [Heidi's note: And that is unfortunately needed in Disney's version.]

9. She's used to being the smartest person in the room. Belle might be the one character who's more well-read than Hermione.