Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fun story and I really enjoyed it. This will make a great kids book.

In this reimagined fairy tale, a House Mouse recruits the Fairy Tale Fixer to stop the incessant noise in her home coming from Cinderella’s shrieking stepsiblings and demanding stepmother. There’s just one catch - the Fairy Tale Fixer doesn’t always fix things the way we expect. The Fixer decides the best way to get a quiet house is to send Cinderella to the Prince’s ball, but he turns out to be a self-absorbed know-it-all. The Fixer, with the help of Mouse, has to quickly improvise to save Cinderella from what will surely be a not-so-happily ever after. Chaos ensues as the story derails from the well-known tale. This hilarious reimagining will be a new graphic novel and fairy tale favorite. Give this to fans of Fractured Fairytales, The Investigators, and First Cat in Space.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect for younger readers! Fairy Tale Fixers takes a new twist on the fairy tales we know and love.

When something goes wrong they know who to call in. We start with the story of Cinderella, a mouse living in their house can’t stand to hear the yelling anymore! So in comes the Fairy Tale Fixer to the rescue to try to get Cinderella out of the house and married to the prince.

I absolutely adore this particular graphic novel. The sass and humor is reminiscent of a lot of dry humor and almost British quips. It is very PG so nothing bad for children, but it feels like the perfect bedtime story for parents to read to their children when they themselves have this sort of humor. The entire story had a beautiful flow and was amazing and engaging even for adults with a quirky and fun artistic style. I love the spin they put on the fairy tale itself, but also the fact that they change the way the characters look from the Disney renditions and I appreciate the greater relatability and diversity. I am absolutely buying this for my friend who is a parent.

In the graphic novel "The Fairy Tale Fixers: Cinderella" by Deborah Underwood, one finds a fun new twist. I enjoyed the storyline and the art style chosen for the graphic novel. I am looking forward to read more creative point of views from other known fairy tales but I do advice adjusting some of the word choices used in the story to give it a humorous turn because the book shows it has a target of 6-10 year olds. Some of the words used for humor may not be welcomed by some parents in the lower range (6-7 years).

In a Nutshell: A children’s comic about a bumbling “fairy” forced to turn godmother for Cinderella. Whimsical, witty, and wonderful! Love how it adds its own twist to the Cinderella story. I had great fun reading this. Much recommended.

Plot Preview:
Fairy, a trenchcoat-wearing rat (or mouse – not sure), works as a fixer of fairy tales. When something goes wrong in stories, he steps into the book and sorts out the issue. Rather, he claims to do so. His latest client Mouse discovers, much to her surprise and dismay, that Fairy has no idea how to resolve most messes, and that he wings the solutions as he goes along. Mouse can see that he needs help, probably as much help as Cinderella does. Can Fairy and Mouse work together to fix Cinderella’s life without worsening the situation?

I enjoy fairy tale retellings. But this is the first time I have read a retelling aimed at children. It offers one heck of a ride!
The key characters in this story – Fairy and Mouse – are brilliant in various ways. You would think that Fairy, with his detective-like trenchcoat and magical powers, would find it easy to resolve the issue Mouse is facing in Cinderella’s house. You might also assume that Fairy is kind and sweet, like fictional fairies often are. So to see this Fairy—so sarcastic and selfish and short-sighted—bumble and stumble through the rescue is hilarious. Mouse acts as the perfect counterfoil to Fairy’s goofs. I love how she points out Fairy’s shortcomings without insulting him outright. That said, she also has a selfish agenda behind her request.
The retelling approach of this story is also wonderful. It contains all the usual suspects: Cinderella, the stepmother and the two stepsisters, and of course, Prince Charming. But it even adds two interesting new characters to the fairytale cast. The characters from the original tale reprise their roles but not their personalities. As such, the fundamental flaws of the fairy tale, especially with respect to Cinderella’s “rescue”, are mostly ironed out in this version. The new characters are outstanding. (This might be the first and last time I ever say this: the cockroach was adorable! I wish there had been more of him.) As with all retellings, the story will deliver better if you know the original, though it is a hoot even on its own.
The book is fun to read. There were many scenes when my buddy reader and I burst out laughing. The humour is a nice mix of witty and silly and cheesy. Perfect for the target age group.
The plot leaves out a few key details. We don’t know Fairy’s background or how he began this business, or how he ventures into a book and alters its story. Given the amazing opening scene, with Fairy sitting at his table like a detective from a classic noir movie and answering his antiquated rotary phone, I wish we could have had more of his backstory. Then again, this isn't the kind of book to be read with the head. It promises sheer entertainment, and it delivers on this from start to end.
This is not to say that the book offers no learning points. Au contraire, it offers plenty of discussion fodder in terms of gender assumptions, predetermined roles in society, fulfilment of responsibilities, and helping others for one’s own benefit. Cinderella’s arc with its twist, though somewhat guessable, is perfect for this modern era, and one that kids and adults are sure to appreciate. Fairy’s cocky assumptions and half-baked ideas also offer much learning to children about not jumping to preconceived conclusions and preparing and planning better before beginning a task.
The vocabulary level is perfect for this age group. There are plenty of onomatopoeic effects to add to the fun. Font size variations are used to great effect.
The graphics might remind you of the Geronimo Stilton series, but this one is way better. The characters, their expressions, and the magical transitions all pop out amazingly due to the colour scheme. I love how Cinderella is not blonde and blue-eyed as is the usual depiction for fairytale FMCs.
All in all, I had a jolly good time with this children’s graphic novel. Anyone who loves smartly silly stories ought to give this a try. The ending indicates that this is the first of a planned series, and based on this experience, count me in for all further fairy-tale fixing adventures of Fairy and Mouse.
Definitely recommended to little fans of fractured fairy tales with modernised tropes. The official target audience is kids aged 6-10 years.
4.5 stars, delighted to round up. (Not that I have a choice. My buddy reader has insisted that I round this up.)
My thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books and Clarion Books for providing the DRC of “The Fairy Tale Fixers: Cinderella” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Imagine of Olivia Pope were a bumbling, lovable mouse fixing problematic fairy tale tropes instead of political scandals, and you'd have THE FAIRY TALE FIXERS (in the best possible way). This is a standout in the fractured fairy tale landscape. I loved the warmth, the quirky humor (pancakes!), the Cinderella who tells it like it is. I look forward to following the investigating mouse

What a charming perspective of Cinderella! I love all fairy tale retellings, especially when Cinderella is given more agency and Fairy Tale Fixers is the start of a fun graphic novel series. I loved the well meaning mice and of course, Cinderella who dreamed of being independent. There is plenty of humor in this story, especially when Cinderella reveals her dream is not to marry the prince.

I need this to be a full series, where they explore more fairy tales. We loved this story and read it aloud as a family over a couple of nights. The different spin on the normal Cinderella tale, along with the addition of characters, sold this one as a must-have addition to our book collection.

I truly didn’t care much at all for Deborah Underwood’s Fairytale Fixers. Though filled with adorable illustrations from Jorge Lacera, I spent most of the story feeling deeply irritated with the main character, a Sherlock Holmes-esque, self-centered detective who is called in by the Watson-esque character to support in getting the cruel step-family to stop yelling at poor Cinderella.

This character quite literally spends a rather large portion of the story completely dismissing the Cinderella character’s wants, needs, hopes, and desires in favor of pushing his own belief of what she wants onto her. He takes on the role of her fairy godmother and goes out of his way to follow the typical Cinderella plotline, even though the only thing this character truly wants is to own and run a diner of her own.

On some level, I think I’m also rather tired of the excessive amount of subversion and criticism of the Cinderella character’s journey finding love. Sure, it’s nice to see the character dream focused from time to time, but I also think we’ve seen this enough that it’s not a big or exciting thing anymore. And when it’s coupled with a jerk “fairy” trying to push his view of what Cinderella should want and be onto her, I found myself just cringing the entire time.

Now, I’ll concede that this story does have a good message in the end. This “fairy” learns the error of his ways and helps Cinderella to get to where she wants to be and it makes sense to introduce kids to the truth that there will sometimes be meddlesome people who dismiss their desires in favor of the life they believe a certain person should lead. This is largely why I, personally, would never dismiss this book entirely. I think it could be great for a large number of kids.

But for me, I think having the Sherlock-mouse (or is he a rat?) become the fairy godmother and also be seen as this great detective who fixes things when he’s actually just a nuisance—subverting the Sherlock role in the process, might I add, which I also found annoying—just made this story overall a miss for me. The themes and tropes, I’m sure, could be found and seen in other stories in one that annoys me much less.

So, all in all, not a bad story by any means but this is definitely one I’d personally decide to skip.

Fairytale with a twist ✅
Fun animal characters ✅
Family friendly story ✅

What if you could enter any story and fix the problems of the characters you find? That’s what’s about to happen with Cinderella and she didn’t even ask for the help!

This book reminded me of the reading level of Dogman but about fairytales. My 9yo is past the stage of graphic novels like this, but early readers would really enjoy this reading level. It’s a fun story but it’s not long enough to be very intimidating. I recommend for early readers, appropriate for all ages.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I received an electronic ARC from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley.
Charming and humorous look at how Cinderella ended up at the ball with a powerful statement about listening to what someone really wants. Readers meet the Fairy Tale Fixer on a Friday evening when he decides to take a case and help a mouse with their problem. They will recognize the story and enjoy the humor as the two figure out how to help the mouse with their noise issue and get Cinderella out of the situation she is in. The two learn a hard lesson when she runs from the ball to escape from the prince. They finally get it right when they offer Cinderella her real dream. Underwood is a master of humor with underlying serious points to think about for any age. Looking forward to the next book.

This book follows two mice on a journey to "fix" broken fairytale stories to ensure the characters have a happy ending. This hilarious book begins with them wanting to fix the story of Cinderella, who mouse thinks is having a hard time. Of course, the traditional Cinderella she falls in love with a prince and they live happily ever after. Armed with a wand and hoping to make Cinderella's life better, the two mice head into the story to solve her problem. However, does Cinderella even want to saved? Such a well written cute graphic novel that is great for all ages.

The retelling of Cinderella’s dream really made this book for me. The flip of her not wanting to marry a prince and the prince being not charming was a fun switch. The fixers were comedic while moving the story along. They enhanced the story of Cinderella instead of taking from it. I would use this in a comparison unit to compare and contrast the original story to this updated graphic novel version. Well done! I look forward to the following stories to be fixed!

Really silly, fun twist on the traditional Cinderella story.

Loved the slightly mis-guided but we'll intentioned "Fairy" and big-hearted but maybe a teensy selfishly-motivated "Mouse".

Overall: 3.5✨
Plot/Lesson: 4📍
Illustration: 3🖌️
Smiles: 3 😅

Suggested Ages:
Read To: 6+
Read By: 6+

(Full Review To Come)

BLUF: Entertaining but didn't keep attention of "C" (3ish) and "A" (6ish) I don't think found it as amusing as it could be.

"Mom's" Review
I loved the premise of the book but it feels unfinished? Unpolished?

The opening premise of the book is Mouse asking Fairy for help b/c of the yellijg in the house... But then Fairy and Mouse were both yelling throughout the book.

I'm still very curious to hear about the next "Case File!" but I'd rather see better behavior modeled by the main characters as kids typically mold what they read and see.

A big thank you to Deborah Underwood, Jorge Lacerno, Harper Alley, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel.
All opinions are our own.

This book is adorable! A little mouse guy runs the Fairy Tale Fixer, a business where he pops into fairytales to make everything better. He gets called into Cinderella by another mouse because she is sick of all the yelling and wants some quiet. He goes into fairy godmother mode to give Cinderella her wish, except he didn't ask what she wished for... He finds out at the ball that marrying a prince wasn't what she wants at all. Now he has to fix his attempt at fixing things, and the original problem still needs to be fixed.
I really liked this, the concept is amusing, the art is funny, I got really invested in the characters, and I'm really looking forward to the other books in this series.

Little me would have adored reading this! Current, bigger me, really liked it too! Then again, I've always loved turning fairytales on their heads. The premise is a fun one, a minor mouse can't sleep because of all the noise in Cindy's life, so she goes to totally not a P.I. for help solving the problem whether Cindy likes it or not!. There's humor to be had in the character interactions and the poking at the usual fairytale formula without, deflating it completely. The language is mostly young reader appropriate, but adults can enjoy it too, without feeling like it's too simple! If you or someone you know is a fractured fairytale fan, this is for them!

This was a fun take on Cinderella. I thought it was more engaging than the original. I am certain my students will adore this book for many years to come! I will recommend it to all my fellow educators.

This was a super cute graphic novel about a twist on the Cinderella fairy tale in which Cinderella wants to open a diner not marry a prince. Loved that the fairy godmother is a rat that is hired by mouse to stop Cinderella’s family from yelling at her and disturbing him. While Fairy needs a lot of help to figure out what Cinderellas dream is, he eventually gets it right and its happy ever after for everyone.
Thanks to Clarion Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book had such a great premise but honestly it fell flat. The main character is so apathic, sarcastic, and complaining about doing his "job" that it kind of makes you feel like if he doesn't care why should I care about this story. Honestly with the vibe of the whole book and behavior of the main character I definitely wouldn't recommend it to any child I know.