Ever After High gets 2.5 Stars

I love Shannon Hale.  Even though I haven't loved every single book she's written I still think she is a fabulous author.

Because I love Hale as an author, I read everything she writes.  I loved her Goose Girl series, and really enjoyed her Princess Academy books. 

Unfortunately, I did not love her Ever After High series (trilogy so far).  It is based of a web series and a toy series (similar to Monster High) by Matel.  That possibly should've been my clue, but as I mentioned, I really think Hale is a great author so I went with it. 

I gave Ever After High (The Storybook of Legends-#1, The Unfairest of Them All-#2, and A Wonderlandiful World-#3) 2.5 out of 5 stars. 

An adult reader may enjoy the fun fairytale connections and the lightness of the book, but the literary quality is poor, and it was difficult to really get into the book. It just seemed shallow with lack of character development.  I really wanted to stop reading the book series, but I pushed through for you. :) 

Adults may not like the book (though there were plenty of adults on Goodreads and Amazon that loved it), but it does have some value for kids and that's why I increased it's score from my initial 2 rating.   

If you are a girl in the 4th-7th grade you will probably enjoy this book series quite a lot.  If you have a reluctant reader, aka a girl that doesn't like to read, in that age range, this book series would be great for her.  You can get her hooked on the web series first, and then read the books together.  

I am personally of the mindset that you should just get your kids reading.  Read what interests them.  Every kid needs help getting the fire of reading started Once you light the fire the kids is going to benefit in so many ways, and will eventually read books of more literary merit later.      

I'm a little bummed Shannon Hale wrote a series for a toy and web series (the web series came first in 2013) rather than her unique and creative stories, but I'm sure writing a series for a toy company really helps the cash flow in.

Just a few helpful tips for this series: 1- it is a clean read, and 2- you need to read the books in order or you will be confused.   

Amazon had the following book description:

"At Ever After High, everyone is expected to sign the Storybook of Legends, pledging to follow in their fairytale parent's footsteps. But when Raven Queen came along, things became fairy, fairy confusing. Now no one's destiny is certain, not even for the most royal of them all, Apple White.

When a mysterious being from Wonderland begins to infect Ever After High with a strange magic, everything goes topsy-turvy. The students transform into animals and objects, palace mice talk, and the beautiful green grounds on campus fade to black-and-white. Lizzie Hearts, Wonderland's future queen, Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio, and Madeline Hatter, heir to the Mad Hatter's Hat and Tea Shoppe, seem to be the only ones who haven't completely lost their heads. It's up to them to save their best friends forever after from a curse that threatens to give their school-and their lives-a very unhappy ending.

Don't miss Book #1, Ever After High: Storybook of Legends and Book #2, Ever After High: The Unfairest of Them All!"

Have you read the series?  What did you think? 

Happy Fairytale Fun and Ever After High reading whether you are and tween girl or an adult!