Beauty Sleep (Once Upon a Time) [Library Binding]

Cameron Dokey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2008 | Series: Once Upon a Time

"LITTLE PRINCESS, LOVELY AS THE DAWN, WELL-NAMED AURORE..."

With these seemingly innocent words, the fate of a newborn princess is sealed. For years the king and queen despaired of ever having a child. When Aurore arrives, though the entire kingdom celebrates, not all are overjoyed. They use her christening as an occasion for revenge, and her young life is overshadowed by a curse of death almost as soon as it has begun. Those who can, intervene, but evil has a way of holding fast. A sleep of a hundred years following the pricking of a finger is the best that can be done.

And so Aurore grows up. Forbidden princesslike tasks of embroidery and sewing, she explores the great outdoors, reveling in the flora and fauna that surround her castle home. Then one day she meets a handsome stranger in an enchanted wood and begins an adventure the likes of which she never dreamed of.

This is the story of the Sleeping Beauty, here quite awake and given new voice. Taunted by fate, Aurore soon learns that although she cannot sidestep her own destiny, love itself is actually the most powerful magic of all.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-Dokey has taken the familiar "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale and turned it into a fantastical romance guided by adventure and magic with humor and wordplay thrown in for good measure. Overjoyed to be parents, the king and queen forget to invite one of the aunts to the baby's christening. Angered by their thoughtlessness, she curses the child to a certain death-by-pricking at age 16. So begins the tale of Aurore, a beautiful, strong-willed, ill-fated princess. Wary of her destined future, her parents coddle her throughout childhood. When she turns 16 and does not die, the kingdom is beset by strange happenings, and Aurore leaves in order to save it. She sneaks off to La Foret, the forbidden forest, where she meets young Prince Ironheart, nicknamed Charming. Time becomes wobbly at this point, and readers are taken further into a tangle of fantasy and magic. Of course Aurore is the princess that Ironheart has come to rescue. When she finally does prick herself with a needle, the sleep is only moments long-or is it? The characters are realistically drawn, especially Aurore, who, as narrator, is chatty, witty, and easy to like. Though the sequence of events in the forest is somewhat confusing, and the surprise ending wraps up rather quickly, this is an enjoyable read for mature fans of fairy tales.
Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 186 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439541949
• ISBN-13: 978-1439541944
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,667,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Worth Losing Sleep Over, December 10, 2002

By 

Brittney Hinson "garnet17" (Ashford, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty Sleep (Mass Market Paperback)

The story begins pretty much like you would expect a retelling of Sleeping Beauty to. The whole once upon a time, the king and queen longing to have a child, finally have a beautiful baby girl, forget to invite someone to christening, forgotten someone curses child, and so on and so forth. But this only takes up the first couple of pages. Everything that follows turns the beloved fairytale upside down and inside out...

Aurore is the spunky and very much awake "sleeping beauty" and the narrator of the tale. The main focus of the book is not about the long sleep or the kiss or anything you might at first suspect. Instead it focuses on what is was like growing up with such a threat looming in the not so distant future.

Aurore has always known what the future held in store for her, but it has not kept her from living her life to the fullest. She works beside the common people, helping them, and loves to explore the outside world that was forbidden to her for a long time by an overprotective mother. But when she turns 16, the year she is destined to prick her finger, the curse begins to show itself in the weather and in the animals with opposites seeming to war with each other, even as the curse and the anti-spell of sleep instead of death war within Aurore. When Aurore decides to run away to the enchanted forest to protect her people from the curse she carries within herself, Aurore finds her destiny ...and her true love, in something entirely unexpected...

I always say that any story can be turned topsy-turvy with a couple of what ifs...and this book has convinced me that Cameron Dokey believes that too. What if the person who cursed sleeping beauty was not essentially evil? Could living with the the fear of the curse be the real curse? What if sleeping beauty met the man of her dreams before she pricked her finger? What if sleeping beauty took her destiny in her own hands? Can you changer your destiny...do you really want to? Can love stand the test of time? But enough of that...you get the picture. Just so you know...it does end happily...

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale, September 26, 2003

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beauty Sleep (Mass Market Paperback)

For years the king and queen had despaired of ever having a child so when Aurore arrived, the whole kingdom rejoiced. Well, almost everyone. There was one forgotten, embittered woman who resided at court who seized the opportunity to curse the sleeping baby and then disappeared. Aurore grew up with the curse overshadowing all of her days. Her parents were determined to protect her and so limited her activities to those that did not involve any sharp, pointed objects. Forbidden princesslike tasks of embroidery and sewing, her parents tried to interest Aurore in painting and weaving, both of which Aurore hated. But she hated her cousin, Oswald, nicknamed Charming, because he wasn't, even more. Until Oswald persuaded her parents to let her roam outside, then she loved him. Aurore was content to live her life the way that she grew up, carefully avoiding anything that would trigger the curse, but the backlash of magic that her avoidance cost her kingdom was too high. Aurore knew that her only chance was to run away to La Foret, the forbidden forest and hopefully take the magic with her. Unbeknownst to Aurore, however, was the fact that time moves quite differently in the forest. So when she meets a handsome stranger, nicknamed Ironheart, who has come to the forest to rescue a fair princess, she knows that he cannot be talking about her, can he?

This was an absolutely charming retelling of Sleeping Beauty that should delight young adult readers and adults everywhere. Aurore was a great character - headstrong, but she loved her parents so much and tried so hard to be what they wanted. I loved the description of her art and her lumpy rugs! The author has so many little touches that she adds throughout the story to make the characters come alive and to breathe new life into the old fairy tale classic. The ending is a big surprise and there are a lot of plot twists along the way, but, although difficult to accept at first, I find that I really enjoyed the author's creativity and unique adaptation of this fairy tale. I look forward to reading more by her!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a nice story., September 12, 2004

By 

theshortmad1wivmessyhair "Amy" (essex, england) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty Sleep (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a retelling of sleeping beauty (as you've probably heard before) but this retelling does so slightly differently. It focuses on what growing up with a curse hanging over you can be like, the fact Aurore has to stay away from the kitchen and ladylike tasks such as embroidery. It also shows how it must feel to have everyone knowing that they'll lose you in your 16th year, including your parents and subjects, and how this effects you as a heir to the throne.

When the curse starts effecting the kingdom with messed up magic causing all sorts of twisted things to happen, Aurore runs away to where there are no people she can affect with the curse. It is in La Foret that she meets Prince Ironheart and.... I'll let you read the book.

In this retelling you meet a charming, lively and likable heroine that you wish to succeed.

However, I felt the story was lacking something... it just felt a bit underdeveloped and is a very quick read. I think I would have enjoyed it more if some of the other characters stood out as much as Aurore (Ironheart actually is quite vivid as well) and if Dokey had gone into more depth with how Aurore felt knowing after 16 years she'd wake up a 100 years later! That seems like quite a big deal to me and although Dokey's explored it more than most I think she could have done so more.

One more thing that bothered me.... the ending, I'm not going to give anything away but... it was just a bit... dodgy. The guy is really nice and it's good they end up together but I think Aurore should have known him some other way. (This won't make sense but read it and it might)

A bit predictable, a bit short and a little dodgy in the end, but apart from that it's a really good read! I don't think there is a particular age range that it wouldn't be suitable for but over 13's might be looking for something more...