Member Reviews

Sleeping Bronty by Christy Webster is a playful twist on Sleeping Beauty with dinosaurs. The cute artwork and charming story make it a delightful read for children. However, changes to the romance element felt a bit odd. Overall, it's a fun and imaginative book, perfect for introducing classic fairy tales in a lighter way.

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I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It's a cute idea to replace the characters with dinosaurs. There are funny parts and other parts that are just okay. I think kids will like the retelling though.

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We are enjoying this series where favourite fairy tales are retold from a dinosaurs perspective. The story is very similar, but the characters are dinosaurs. In this story, the princess is cursed by a mean fairy, but it is because she wants to become queen. It is not a kiss that wakes her up, but a spicy taste of chili. It is a fun story that my grandkids enjoyed. the illustrations are large, colourful and full of action. I enjoy reading these to the grandchildren because they have the fairytale without a lot of the scary, dark stuff. Of course the fact that they love dinosaurs is a double bonus. These books would be great for family libraries, schools, classrooms and public libraries.

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Christy Webster is back with another fairytale dinosaur retelling! This time, instead of the wonderful <em>Cinderella Rex</em> we meet the brilliant <em>Sleeping Bronty</em>. Every bit as exciting a retelling as the first, I was thrilled to see that there was a second installment in this series of books. This time we have a new illustrator in Gladys Jose.

<i>Sleeping Bronty</i> very much follows a similar pattern to its inspiration, <em>Sleeping Beauty</em>, though I'll admit that I find the villain's motivation a bit lacking in comparison. Instead of Maleficent, we have Rhonda, which I did think was kind of odd. I saw little purpose behind this change. Ultimately, I don't think there was any reason to change the villain entirely. Regardless, Rhonda wants to be queen and since that role is meant to go to Bronty, naturally she'll have to get rid of her.

In line with the first book, where the fairytale is twisted to remove potentially problematic aspects, instead of the Prince kissing Sleeping Bronty awake he pulls her out of her dreams by having her sniff some spicy chili under her nose. It definitely removes those consent concerns, which I appreciated. <em>Sleeping Bronty</em> is an exceptional dinosaur fairy story for both boys and girls to enjoy.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

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This is an adorable adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, featuring a dinosaur.

Bronty is a brontosaurus, and also a princess. When she was born, three fairies came to give her wishes. They wished that she would have a long neck, a long tail, and a long life. However, an evil fairy came and wished that Bronty would prick her tail on a thorn and fall into a deep sleep. When Bronty eventually did prick her tail, they needed the prince to bring a special dish to wake her up.

This was a great retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I think kids would like that the story was about dinosaurs, rather than a real person. It makes it universally relatable, since it doesn’t show a child who may not look like the reader. I also liked the twist on the wishes the fairies gave Bronty, which relate to how a dinosaur would grow up, rather than a person.

This is a cute children’s story!

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A darling take on the Sleeping Beauty story - with dinosaurs! I enjoyed the illustrations, and the solution to the sleeping curse - spicy chili - is a nice change from kissing and consent questions in the original, especially for young readers.

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I had a great time reading this book. Although it was told in a new way, the essence of the classic tale was definitely there. A few new spins got added to it, but not in a way that hurt it at all. The chili was an unexpected but fun addition. This may not be a book for everyone, but I think most kids will really like it.

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I thought the concept was brilliant. Incorporating a retelling of sleeping beauty with dinosaurs characters. How charming is that! Loved the illustrations. Perfect balance of colour with the design and not over done.

Sleeping bronty is born to be queen. The good dinos are so thrilled they each bestow a gift on the beautiful princess! Cue Rhonda! The naughty dino who wants to be queen. She wants sleeping bronty to fall asleep so she can selfishly take her throne. Not going to lie, I kind of loved Rhonda. She had a goal and she went for it. Have to appreciate that. I really enjoyed watching sleeping bronty discover who she is. I felt that would really will help young kids connect with the book in such a way that they could identify similarities within themselves.

I found the author did an excellent job of highlighting the differences between the dinos and how it didn't matter. Just because we don't look the same, doesn't mean we can't love each other. Beautiful message.

I will never see chilli the same way again either. A must have if you have pre-kindergarten kids. My 4 year old has already got me placing an order for when it is released.

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Oh Bronty, don't prick your tail on a throne. You'll fall into a deep sleep.

What a wonderfull retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The illistration is beautiful. And the story was great!

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This was a very cute twist to a classic story. I love the dinosaurs! The illustrations were also done very well, and were really cute!

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Sleeping Beauty meets dinosaurs... I'm already hooked!

Princess Bronty is a beautiful dinosaur princess! She has three little fairies who are little toucan/dinosaurs, but she also has a villain in the form of Rhonda. The remaining tale follows the path of Sleeping Beauty pretty well, with a few bumps and changes along the way.

I think this is a cute way to introduce some of the classic fairy tales to children without delving into the originals. Since the actual originals are quite dark and not everyone wants to read and watch Disney all the time, books like this can be very handy.

The art itself was fun, especially all of the dinosaurs. I also think the story was quite cute. It didn't change the story too much (which I would have liked to see) but it was still a good quality book.

My biggest con is that it changes the romance that is from Sleeping Beauty. I don't think it worked well in that regards - it felt... very odd. That always seemed like the point of Sleeping Beauty.

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Cute retelling of Sleeping Beauty...with dinosaurs! Nothing unexpected, but it did make me hungry for chili.

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I love this series so much and so does my daughter! The second book in the Once Before Time series is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but as dinosaurs. So, we get Sleeping Bronty! With wonderful illustrations and just the right changes to make this a dino fairy tale, this book is fabulous!

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Unfortunately this book did not upload for me on the Aldkio app from my Samsung galaxy tablet. Therefore I can not read and review it.

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I adored the first book and this one was the same. Adorable and a change from your typical princess in distress story. Dinosaurs are really amazing and not just for boys. To have strong young princess dinosaurs with good friends as the theme rather than love I think the message is far more positive. I need more! I need all of these in my life. ( I mean my children’s lives lol)

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A cute variation of Sleeping Beauty. One kid loved it, the other didn't enjoy the lack of magic. Lol!

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After "Cinderella Rex" gave us a new twist on that fairy tale, we come to the Sleeping Beauty that we think we know and love, peopled by dinosaurs, and without any kissing. It's again a very attractive book to look at, but once more quite silly, and again the whole dinosaur cast seems a slender hook to hang the series on. Still, it's enjoyable, but I don't think it does as much with the story as the one that preceded it. Three and a half stars.

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THis was way too simplified telling of sleeping beauty. I did really like how they did not use true loves kiss to wake Bronty, but instead five bean chilli. Which they also used to banish the evil queen. The story is known, and there is really nothing to give it legs to stand against other competitors for this same retelling.

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Muddled, some good moments and some bad, but ultimately not as good as the first one.

The art for Cinderella Rex was better, both feature dinosaurs with hair and wearing clothes, but this one has the dinos almost fully anthropomorphized. I liked the choices Cinderella's illustrator made for where the hair comes out of a head with horns and frills, and I liked the way the tails came out of the clothes. That one was more stylized, too, and these illustrations were more run-of-the-mill. It also was much more Disney referential than I would have liked. The fairies were pterodactyls were very cute, and Rhonda's outfit made sense with the spike but was too obviously a Maleficent costume. I just resent the idea that Disney is the design reference for folktales they do not and can not own. It also felt a bit weird to give Rhonda a name when Bronty is the only other named character and that barely counts as a name (Why not make her an Apatosaurus and call her Pat? Believe me, if a kid is already into dinos, correct nomenclature is something they care about A LOT so they're probably already miffed at the use of Bronto).

There were some charming moments in the text, I liked the moment of meeting the prince, who does not have a long neck and does not have a long tail but does have a picnic basket. That theme, of celebrating differences but still looking for the similarities, is important for kids and it simplified down to a few sentences worked. Other repetition, like saying Bronty would be queen soon, was too much. It was the last sentence on one page and the first on the next. Also, if you're going to make it clear that she will be queen and not princess (or just queen someday), her parents shouldn't just disappear. I thought I missed a page of Bronty growing up. It wouldn't take up much space to say something like "Bronty's parents were excited she would grow up and be queen so they could retire and go on a cruise" or whatever like that.

I liked the spicy chili instead of kissing, although it did feel like it leaned a bit on [book:Dragons Love Tacos|13337050]. I think this whole series blended dinosaurs and fairy tales so it appealed to all genders (although of course we all know kids who like dinos and kids who like princesses without conforming to gender stereotypes) so it makes sense that they are keeping romance out of it. Having the chili defeat the villain, though? (She runs away because it's too spicy? What?) That made no sense. Sure, they don't want to show violence, but come up with something else.

So, this book had some moments, but isn't living up to the promise of the first in the series. Pricking the long tail made sense but wasn't really taking advantage of the dinosaur anatomy (I was hoping they would save brontosaurus/apatosaurus for Rapunzel so she could let down her long neck instead of hair). Havinbg a Cinderella T rex who literally couldn't pick up her dropped show due to her short arms was clever and funny and I had hoped for a moment like that here. I'll still read a third in the series if NetGalley offers it to me, but I really hope it is more like the first.

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What happened? The first book in this series was so cute. This one is juvenile, condescending, has weaker illustrations, and doesn't even make sense.

Sleeping Bronty is based on "Sleeping Beauty". But so many of the original elements are left out of the story. The fairy who curses Bronty (her name is Rhonda) doesn't do it because she's feeling left out; she's simply selfish and wants to be queen. Instead of a spindle, Bronty pricks her tail on a rosebush thorn. Rhonda then takes over the kingdom (because, apparently, Bronty's the rightful queen; we never do find out what happened to her parents). She's not woken up by a kiss, but by spicy chili. Then Bronty and the prince get rid of Rhonda by feeding her the chili and giving her hiccups so bad that she runs away.

I enjoyed Cinderella Rex because it turned "Cinderella" on its head and made the prince's fascination with her about her dancing skills, not her pretty face. Sleeping Bronty doesn't have any real romance, either... but it doesn't work as well here. The plot of "Sleeping Beauty" traditionally relies on true love's kiss to break the curse. The inclusion of hiccup-inducing chili just seems puerile. Kids might find it funny, but adult readers are liable to be unimpressed.

The illustrator for Sleeping Bronty is not the same as for Cinderella Rex. The style looks a bit different, and I wasn't as enamoured with the pictures in this one.

So this was a disappointment. I was hoping Sleeping Bronty would live up to the high standard set by Cinderella Rex. Sadly, it did not.

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