Sleeping Ugly [Paperback]

Jane Yolen (Author), Diane Stanley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

When beautiful Princess Miserella, Plain Jane, and a fairy fall under a sleeping spell, a prince undoes the spell in a surprising way.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0698115600
• ISBN-13: 978-0698115606
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK!!!!, October 27, 1999

By 

Jessica ([e-mail]) (Columbia, Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleeping Ugly (Paperback)

I am absolutely amazed that no one else has reviewed this little book yet. By far one of my all-time favorite stories, the book, Sleeping Ugly, is meant for children, but anyone with a sense of humor will savor this story.

Set in some unknown kingdom, Sleeping Ugly is a short story about a beautiful, perfectly worthless and mean princess named Miserella, a plain-as-mud orphan named Jane, a fairy in disguise, and an imnpoverished prince (the youngest son of a youngest son) named Jojo. This story takes the traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty and promptly sets it on its ear. I received this book at age seven, and at age eighteen I still know the whole thing by heart. It's amazing that a book this short and this simply written can be so hilarious and filled with such wonderful characters. There's even some morals included, and the illustrations are great.

Every parent should buy this book for his/her child, and anyone who likes fairy tales should buy this book for him(her)self. You won't be disappointed!!!!

This is one of the best stories ever, period!!! Don't be fooled by its diminutive size or simple writing!! Go directly to a bookstore and pick it up!!!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars personal worth, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sleeping Ugly (Paperback)

In a time when we are swamped with superficial ideas, it is wonderful to see a book that shows children and ADULTS how to appreciate a girl or woman for her personal worth instead of just her looks.

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ending ruins it all, June 19, 2006

By 

JR Corry "Jenny" (Fl) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sleeping Ugly (Paperback)

The story starts out well enough, centering around the lovely-but-spoiled Princess Miserella and the sweet-but-ugly Plain Jane. Naturally, the book is filled with the contrasts between their two characters: Miserella makes people miserable while poor Plain Jane's sweetness is overlooked by people who only see her outside.

When the two meet a fairy godmother, things start to look up for Jane when her kindness wins her three wishes. Before she can use them, however, Miserella ticks off the godmother so much that her magic goes bonkers and puts them all to sleep. When a prince comes across the three sleeping women, he falls for Miserella's looks and decides to kiss her awake. Before he does this, however, he decides to "practice" kissing by kissing the godmother and Jane first. It is here that both the prince and the author of the story make their fatal mistakes.

When Jane wakes up and sees the prince (after being kissed by him), she naturally wants him for herself. Rather than taking the golden opportunity of developing a real relationship between the two characters, author Jane Yolen throws it away by having the brainless bimbo of a fairy godmother cast a spell on the prince that magically forces him to love Jane (that godmother's not too smart with a wand, is she?) In just a couple of sentences, Yolen totally ruins what began as a meaningful story.

First of all, I absolutely despise the idea of love spells; love is a wonderful, wild force that cannot possibly be controlled or imitated. Second of all, what's the point of forcing the prince to love Jane? If Yolen doesn't let Jane win the prince's love naturally, then what message does this give girls with low self-esteem? That a guy can't like you without a spell on him? I thought the whole point of the story was that inner beauty and kindness is rewarded, but it hardly counts if the prince had a spell on him; the nasty princess could just as easily have done that. I agree with the reviewer who said that Jane's kindness was ruined when she made Miserella's sleeping body a hat post and forbad anyone to kiss her back to life. It seems to me that was Jane's way of saying, "Well, I got the prince, I guess I don't need to be nice any more". I found myself hoping the prince would find out about the spell and dump Jane like she deserved; I also wouldn't have minded the fairy godmother being turned into the toad she really was. I love most of Yolen's work, but this one is a rare bad egg.