The author weaves together a beautiful story and feels both fresh and familiar at the same time. Loved!

This book was so great! It was a fun and empowering twist on princess tales with the perfect amount of girl power thrown in. I would love to get my hands on a physical copy to really drink in the illustrations as well! Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't really enjoy this book, but I think kids who are into sci-fi would really enjoy this. This is a great new fairy tale for kids.

Please excuse this late review. The pandemic has truly done a number on me and my life.

Not to mince any words whatsoever but this book was wonderful. I have a little girl and yes, as cliched as it is, she is my princess. So yes, I absolutely requested this with her in mind so I could read itto her. How did that turn out?

Fabulous.

To my delight we both enjoyed it and I am strongly considering purchasing it for her birthday. There are 8 different stories but they all share a common theme and it’s books and plots like that that I adore the most.

The illustrations are whimsical and breathtaking and there is a lesson to be learned from each story. I really have nothing bad to say about this in the least.

Thanks so much for the ARC. Be safe!

I thoroughly enjoyed this middle-grade read! I loved the plot, and characters! Thank you so much for giving me the chance to read this book early.

I received a dARC copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest review

I did not finish the book entirely before my copy expired in Adobe Digital Reader but I did read three of the stories. I was first captivated by the beautiful illustrations in this book. They gave it a very Middle Ages, illustrated manuscript feel with a modern execution. They are definitely what makes this book special and perfect as a gift for a young girl.
I also appreciated that the book wove many elements of fairy tales throughout the stories. The three stories I read were very unique from each other but were all connected through the magic mirror. I think the stories not only have the adventure of a fairy tale but the moral character lessons as well that is important to the original genre.

I thought this was such a great book. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I loved the characters and plot of the story. I loved how there are mini stories within the one story. I also loved the illustrations in the book. I highly recommended this book for a middle grade fantasy.

Eight Princesses and Magic Mirror is a delightful and diverse book about what it takes to be a princess. An enchantress is chosen to be a baby princess' godmother. She promises to help her new godchild be an excellent princess, but then she realizes she doesn't know exactly what that means, so she send her magic mirror on a journey to discover what makes a princess excellent because:

"Pretty, tidy, and kind to animals.
It wasn't enough."

The mirror's journey takes it to many different places, and we meet eight very different princesses. They don't fit the mold of traditional princess stories. One wants to sail the seas. Another keeps a crocodile as a pet. Another braves a witch to save her sister's life when her sister's suitors fail.

This is a really lovely book. The stories are charming and show girls that there are many different ways they can live (princess or not). It's an important and powerful message for young girls. The princesses in these stories are all individuals who go against stereotypes and blaze their own trails. The illustrations are gorgeous and add a lot to the stories.

This offers a nice twist on the classic fairy tale. The eight stories in this book follow a magic compact mirror as it travels across time and to different lands in the hands of different princesses (some classic royalty, some symbolic). There's a lot of productive diversity in this book; the stories are set everywhere. It begins with the classic medieval story, but the rest take place everywhere, from Ireland, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and a contemporary urban setting. The illustrations are both dreamy and vibrant and help with the transition between stories. I also appreciate that the stories don't have romantic elements or depict women being overly reliant on men; there's a strong feminist element. Overall, I think this is a great collection for any middle-grade (or adult) reader.

This lovely book of fairy tales is a collection of stories about a variety of princesses in different times and cultures. The stories are bound together with a magic mirror that has been charged with learning about what really princesses need. The art work is both modern and old fashioned, as are the stories. It's a perfect combination and I can't wait to give it to some of my students.

This is a modern take on fairytales. I enjoyed it. I did feel at the beginning it was a little hard to follow at times the first few stories anyway but that leveled out and the flow was more understandable. I enjoyed the morals and the no need for a prince. The mirror link was a clever way to keep all the stories intertwined. The illustrations were fantastic! I enjoyed this book as a whole. I will definitely put this book in the library.

It's hard to fight bias, because when I first heard about this book in review journals -- I knew I would love it. When I first read the title, I was hooked. When I first read a description, I was hooked. When I saw the cover, I was hooked. This is all before I realized this book is filled with GORGEOUS full color illustrations. What I'm saying is, it would have taken a lot to get me to dislike this book.

This is the story of eight princesses and a magical compact mirror - enmagicked by an enchantress who is trying to figure out the essential qualities that make a princess. As the mirror travels around the world, being passed from princess to princess through the generations, readers realize that princesses can come in a lot of shapes, sizes, and colors. I found the pacing of this book to be just right - which does not always happen with stories told in vignette - and the mirror is an effective device to connect all of the stories.

This is, of course, to say nothing of the illustrations which I would like to have framed prints made of.

This was such a lovely book!! An enchantress is asked to be the godmother of a newborn princess and asks the mirror on the wall for help. The mirror travels through time and location to eventually return to the enchantress and offer up direction for the enchantress’s role as godmother to this princess.

I have two girls and am always looking for good role models for them to learn about. with my younger daughter’s obsession with princesses, that hunt for strong role models tends to be a struggle. Well, not anymore. This book offers 8 different princesses to admire, respect, and emulate. With varied ethnicity, race, religion, location, and feel, each of the princesses in this book is unique. Yet they all share the same qualities we hope for our daughters: strong, resilient, moral. I am really exited for this book to be published—I’ll be buying a copy to share with my girls.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is a very creative and original story. The magic mirror strings along all the stories with incredible, strong, smart princesses. I really enjoyed this and was inspired by the strong leads!

An enchantress uses her magic mirror to determine what makes a princess.

This is a unique collection of fairy tale stories with new princesses we haven't met before. The princesses in the book are brave, fierce, loyal and loving with dreams of their own. The illustrations are beautiful.

This book featured 8 different stories. My favorite was the last one! The illustrations in this book were astonishing.

This is not so much a retelling of tired old princess stories, though it does take on the Fairy Tale mantle. The stories are told in the fairy tale style, but these are princesses we have never met before.

The framing of these stories of eight princesses through the ages, is that an Enchantress wants to know what gifts to give to her goddaughter, and the best way to do it, is to find out about other princesses and what makes the they way they are.

So, she takes her magic mirror, makes it into a compact one, and sends it out into the world to be with these princesses.

Sometimes they are Changlings. Sometimes they are displaced Russian princesses running from the Russian revolution and hiding in Paris. Sometimes they are simply girls named Princess living in a block of flats.

It is a charming way to see what makes a good leader, what makes an interesting human being. And so, we learn lessons from each story.

It isn’t too heavy handed, though at times you expect to learn a lesson.

Interesting take on what makes a princesses.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

What it takes to be a good princess? If it’s about to duchess the answer is easy: Don’t act like Meghan and took the dear prince away from his ancestors!

I’m a fairy godmother of two beautiful twin girls who were six and I enjoyed my time to read this book aloud to them. Those remarkable illustrations, fairy tales and folks waltzing between the chapters, remarkable, riveting and capturing story-telling made me wish this amazing book could turn into animated series!

This is different experience for me. Reading is ageless and the best thing about it sharing with the stories with your loved ones so they can pass them to the next generations.
I’m looking forward its release date so I buy several copies and share it with mothers, daughters and who still knows the values and magical touch of fairy tales.

Special thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton& Company/Norton Young Readers for sharing this fantastic ARC copy with me. And I want to congratulate Natasha Farrant for her incredible creative soul and Lydia Corry for her amazing illustrations.

A delight! Fairytales for the modern girl. What does it mean to be a princess, a lady, yourself? Analyzed in a beautifully diverse collection.