The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom [Hardcover]

Christopher Healy (Author), Todd Harris (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: May 1, 2012 | Age Range: 8 and up | Series: Hero's Guide | Lexile Measure: 750L (What's this?)

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, the princes stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Christopher Healy’s Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is a completely original take on the world of fairy tales, the truth about what happens after “happily ever after.” It’s a must-have for middle grade readers who enjoy their fantasy adventures mixed with the humor of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Witty black-and-white drawings by Todd Harris add to the fun.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the more clever, hilariously successful incarnations of the current literary rage to rip apart and rewrite fairy tales… The princes in “The Hero’s Guide” may not be charming, but Healy’s romp of a book about them most certainly is.” (Los Angeles Times )

“The premise is indeed charming…a quest that recalls at moments the Musketeers and at others, the Marxes.” (New York Times Book Review )

“Healy’s fast-paced debut is overflowing with suspense, humor, and carefully developed characters. Healy injects age-old characters and fairy tale tropes with a fresh, contemporary sensibility, resulting in a crowd-pleaser with laugh-out-loud lines on nearly every page.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

“The fairy-tale world is tongue-in-cheek but fleshed out, creating its own humor rather than relying on pop-culture references. Healy juggles with pitch-perfect accuracy, rendering the princes as goobers with good hearts and individual strengths, keeping them distinct and believable. Inventive and hilarious.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )

“[A] lively, humorous adventure.” (Wall Street Journal )

“This is the most fun you can have short of rounding up King Arthur’s knights, filling their armor with laughing gas, and driving them to a roller disco.” (Frank Cottrell Boyce, New York Times bestselling author of COSMIC )

From the Back Cover

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change. Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it's up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Debut author Christopher Healy takes us on a journey with four imperfect princes and their four improbable princesses, all of whom are trying to become perfect heroes—a fast-paced, funny, and fresh introduction to a world where everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Walden Pond Press; 1 edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062117432
• ISBN-13: 978-0062117434
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Before delving into Fairy Tale Land to write The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom and its sequel, The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, Christopher Healy held numerous other jobs, including actor, ad copywriter, toy store display designer, fact-checker, dishwasher, journalist, costume shop clothing-stitcher, children's entertainment reviewer, and haunted house zombie (though not in that order). He commutes to Fairy Tale Land from his home in New Jersey (not too, too far from where he grew up in New York City), where he lives with his wife, two children, and a dog named Duncan. The Hero's Guide series is his first work of fiction.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Princes Charming tale is a superb fairy tale. April 13, 2012

By Lizz A. Belle VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Ever wondered what Prince Charming's real name is (although Disney calls Sleeping Beauty's prince Philip) or what really happened during the daring rescues of our fairy tale damsels? If so, this book is for you. This is the story of the Princes Charming, four of them to be precise and how they go from kingdom outcasts to heroes and well... you have to read the book.

The story is essentially this, we relive the fairy tales of Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty (who turns out to be a real meanie), Cinderella (Ella in the story) and Snow White. Their stories are captured by wandering minstrels of the time who turn the princes into cads. Rapunzel was actually freed by the witch and her prince was thrown from the tower and blinded. He becomes a laughing stock of the kingdom. Ella is saved by her prince just as the fairy tale says with the slipper and all, except her prince charming is kind of a loser. He has no battle skills and lives for bubble baths and flute lessons. Snow White's prince saves her by the kiss, although he happened upon her glass coffin without actualy looking for her and he seems to be hypomanic. Sleeping Beauty is rescued also through "true love's kiss" awakening her, except in this version the prince refuses to marry her because she is a horrid, awful and selfish person, which in turn makes him an outcast with his kingdom since all his parents and subjects care about are the gold mines running under Sleeping's kingdom.

Prince Fredric sets off to find his fiancee, Ella and in turn meets Gustav, Rapunzel's prince. They then encounter Prince Liam, Sleeping Beauty's ex betrothed and later Prince Duncan, Snow's actual husband (Duncan is the only married Prince). Together they have several interesting adventures involving a 10-year-old bandit king, trolls, giants and a dragon.... Their quest is at first to save Ella from the witch, but Ella has already escaped. They find out the evil witch Zaubera is going to lure all the heroes of the surrounding kingdoms to their deaths and has taken each kingdom's minstrel captive to witness and write about her triumph. Except... well read the story.

One thing I have to point out is that all of these female characters are not the feeble creatures we see in Disney movies. Ella runs around in pants for part of the book, which would be unheard of in most fairy tales. Most of these princesses are pretty fiesty characters who can hold their own against the Princes Charming. This author is phenomenal and I hope he keeps writing. His descriptions of things are hilarious and the asides make the story more exciting like you are witnessing it first hand. This is a very clever and funny book and I very very very highly recommend it to kids (it is not too scary or gory like the regular fairy tales), anyone who enjoys twists on fairy tales and any feminists who are looking for a story where not all the princesses sit around and wait for someone to help them. Great book! More please!!! Read more ›

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Pairing of Quirky Narration and Fanciful Illustrations May 3, 2012

By Wendy Sparrow

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book will be a guaranteed hit with some audiences--like my 11 year old daughter, who is into unorthodox princess stories like Ella Enchanted or Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and my 9 year old son, who loved the oddball narration in the book How to Train Your Dragon. This was the perfect mash-up of a screwy adventure plot and its fairy tale basis.

The four princes of Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty haven't got much to show for their brief splash of stardom. The bards of their respective kingdoms have labelled them all as "Prince Charming" and focused on their lack of heroics. Prince Frederic (Cinderella) was an impressive dancer, sure, but the real focus was on the rest of the story. Liam (Sleeping Beauty) and Duncan (Snow White) had awakened princesses with kisses, but Briar Rose turned out to be a despot and Duncan wasn't settling into married life as well as one would hope. Then there was Gustav (Rapunzel) and Rapunzel had not only saved herself but then she'd healed him with her tears--poor prince Gustav couldn't hold his manly head up after that. This story takes place after that... when the bards of the kingdom have disappeared and the witch from Rapunzel has concocted a wicked plot to finally get her fifteen seconds of fame.

The illustrations and the tone of this were reminiscent of Disney's Tangled--and the illustrations in this were amazing. I wish I'd bought this in hardcover just so I could flip through the book and stare at them. (For those buying the Kindle version, I was impressed at the appearance on the Kindle and though the file size is larger than most non-illustrated books, it's impressively small for how many illustrations there are in this.) I can't believe this is Todd Harris's first published book.... His artwork was the ideal complement to the story. It's fun and fanciful and made me laugh out loud. I would love to have this artwork on my daughter's walls. It's gorgeous.

I laughed out loud a lot while reading this. But it's not just all funny bits and odd moments. There was some real character growth throughout this as the princes learned to appreciate each other's strengths and work together. My favorite line was probably this one:

"Look," Liam said, "sometimes being a hero isn't about getting the glory. It's about doing what needs to be done."

***

For parents: This was ideal for a bedtime story for kids who probably think they're too old for bedtime stories and definitely safe for all readers. No profanity. And violence was similar to what you'd expect from the original fairy tales--well, actually less violent than most of them (Grimm are grim.) And it's a great read for adults too. If you're a big fan of the play "Into the Woods," you'll find this lighter but equally entertaining.

Both the illustrator and author are going on my guaranteed buy list. This was really a fantastic showing from both of them. They matched. Perfectly. Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fractured Fairytale Mayhem Stays Right on Track! June 23, 2012

By M. Lee

Format:Hardcover

As a mother who screens everything her 13-year-old, crazy-about-fractured-fairy-tales daughter reads, there have been many times I've reconsidered my decision to be proactive in said daughter's literary pursuits. Since my own tastes run towards historical fiction, there have been times when, if I had to pick up yet another fractured fairytale, I was going to barf. This was so *not* the case with Christopher Healy's "The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom"! Since we'd just got done watching and reading Stephen Sondheim's Tony-winning musical "Into the Woods" (the illustrated edition available on Amazon.com is lovely), I could not help but draw comparisons - and "The Hero's Guide" compares very well indeed. Told in third-person from the point of view of the Princes Charming (that's funny in itself - Prince Charmings or Princes Charmings) of several different fairy tales, there are many, many witty and hilarious turns on the original fairytales of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Snow White alongside irreverence and general silliness. This is one example of good writing, where the language is compatible with the setting and tone of the story, and consistently so. We now have the book on Kindle (thank you!) and are truly looking forward to the next installments in the series. Of *course* it's a part of a series! Said daughter's review follows:

" 'The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom' by Christopher Healy is a funny fairytale-adventure-gone-wrong book about who *really* is the hero in fairytales.

"Prince Frederic - Prince Charming in the Cinderella story. Scared of his own shadow, but very diplomatic.

"Prince Liam - Prince Charming in the Sleeping Beauty story. Bit too full of himself, but knows how to get things done....

"Prince Gustav - Prince Charming in the Rapunzel story. Still smarting after Rapunzel saved *him*, the bards found out, and everyone in his kingdom found out. Always looking for a fight, but never quite knowing how to *win* one.

"Prince Duncan - Prince Charming in the Snow White story. The fairytale oddball, but a good heart.

"These are the heroes in everyone's favorite fairytales. You probably know them only as Prince Charming/Guy Who Gets the Hot Girl and Lives Happily Ever After, but Frederic, Liam, Gustav and Duncan know better than anyone that sometimes fairytale endings don't *quite* go as planned. With Cinderella running away to meet Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty turning out to be e-v-i-l, Snow White out of patience with her husband, and Rapunzel deciding that she's going to be *independent*, what are the four Prince Charmings (note from mother-who-screens-everything: read book to see why this is funny) supposed to do?

"Well, if Frederic, Liam, Gustav, and Duncan anything to go by, you chase after your true love, fight the Bandit King (who's actually a kid), giants (who are actually very polite), trolls (did you know that they are vegetarian?!), and an evil witch (who is a normal, everyday, evil witch), and try to find your own Happily Ever After!

"My favorite character was definitely Prince Liam's little sister, Lila. Unlike her big brother, she's really smart and funny. :-)

"I would give the book five stars: two stars for the plot, two stars for the characters, and one star for the drawings, which were AMAZING!!!! :D" Read more ›