The Silver Rings

Thoroughly enjoyed this book I believe my granddaughter will too, am looking forward to buying it for her - and will order more for my store too.

A wonderful mixture of fractured fairy tales and fables blended into a story of twins, Celia and Ana,and the adventures. Perfectly written for the target audience of 10 years +. However, I think this would make an excellent parent and child read ( much the same as The Wishing Chair series) where you can elaborate on the voices of the animals, giants and the noble, overly eager prince. I loved the maps ( a must have for every great fantasy book) and it was fun to go back and track where each adventure was taking them. The gorgeous illustrations throughout added an extra dimension to the story. I loved this so much I want to buy the paperback to read to my grandchild.

Twin sisters Celia and Alice are mistreated by the wicked stepmother and stepsisters. When their stepmother decides to get rid of them by taking them into the forest and leaving them the girls take advantage of the situation and leave. The find their godmother Mozzarella who tells them they should separate for awhile and make their own way. Their only link will be silver rings that will change color if one of them is in danger. Disguised as lizards the girls set out on an adventure. Celia unfortunately is turned into a frog and Alice is forced to try and find her. Filled with all sorts of magical creatures, a "helpful" fox, love, and adventure this story was good fun. There were many allusions to other fairy tales but also had some fresh ideas. I liked this quite a bit.

Twin sisters set off to explore their world, escaping the maschinations of their evil stepmother and stepsisters in this adventure story. They visit their fairy godmother first and the links to fairy stories from around the world begin in this fantastic story. This is a delightful tale with strong female heroines, giants, talking creatures, a witch, magic - it has all the ingredients mixed together by a really talented author to make a riveting read for children who are able to tackle longer books with chapters. The characters aren't necessarily predictable in how they relate and the twist and turns keep the reader enthralled throughout the tale, a brilliant book that I have no hesitation in recommending for able readers (or someone to read to less competent readers). It has lots of lessons to be learnt during the story, particularly encouraging resilience and creative thinking and could easily be used by teachers to encourage their pupils to develop these qualities. It is illustrated beautifully throughout by the author and these images enhance the magic of the book.

I had so much fun reading this book. It went straight to the top of my to buy list. I especially enjoyed picking out the other fairy tales that the different parts of the story came from. This could be a fun book to read aloud after you've read all the other fairy tales the author used.

Celia and Alice are identical twins that live with their cruel stepmother and two nasty stepsisters. Father is always at work. Celia and Alice are the ones that do all the "housework" even though the stepsisters try to cause them more work and are just plain nasty. Somehow Celia and Alice are always happy which make the stepmother and stepsisters madder than their normal mad attitude. Stepmother decides she has to get rid of Alice and Celia or her own daughters will never get married. The stepmother leads them to the forest and leaves them there. Celia and Alice know they are not wanted back at home but how will they survive in the forest. Remembering that their fairy godmother, Mozzarella lives in the enchanted forest, they decide to go there even though it's scary. Mozzarella welcomes them and tells them they can't live their--the sisters must separate and find their future. She leads Celia and Alice safely out of the enchanted forest with two gifts. One is an enchanted ring for each sister that will let the other sister know if one of them is in trouble and needs help from her. The other gift Mozzarella gives each of them is a suit that will keep them safe from harm. Celia is looking forward to being outdoors while Alice is afraid. However they follow Mozzarella's suggestion and separate. Both have wild and suspenseful adventures. I don't want to tell anymore of the story as there would be spoilers!

This tale is a mix of unrecognizable fairy tales that I'm sure the adults will recognize but not the younger generations. I like this new mix of fairy tales made into one story. The tale has made me smile, laugh out loud, and be sad for a moment or two. The Silver Rings put a big smile on my heart that stayed after this tale ended. I find that smile on my heart popping out as I think of this tale!