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fyrekatz's review against another edition
4.0
This was adorable and I love the art style and the story was so cute!
teddi's review against another edition
4.0
We loved the illustrations in this book! The storyline was a nice departure from the typical princess story even though it was a bit heavy handed with the princess loving dangerous things. It was a great starting point for us to discuss what to do about dangerous things and we also had an interesting discussion about what happens at the end of the book. My daughter was convinced that the prince and princess got married. It just showed me that even at 5 she already knows to expect that from a princess story :/.
bluenicorn's review against another edition
2.0
Meh... I don't know. It wasn't bad- the female characterization was decent. But the story itself just didn't do it for me. And that's counting the creepy factor of seeds that grow noses, which is weird enough to normally be right up my alley. Shrug?
rhodesee's review against another edition
4.0
I love the illustration style of this book. The story is cute too. I enjoy reading princess books that switch it up a bit.
amynbell's review against another edition
5.0
If I have to read princess stories, I would like them to all be like this: dark, quirky, and strange. I immediately fell in love with Princess Amanita when I walked into her garden filled with "dangerous" plants and saw her scorpion hair style. If the plant doesn't prick you, stick you, try to eat you, or stink you out, she's not interested. Cactuses, fly catchers, stapelias--yes, please. My 6-year-old daughter and I are very envious of her garden.
"But what does it DO?" she asks when a prince offers to bring roses from his garden. Smelling nice is just not appealing, so she puts the roses in the water with the thorns sticking up out of the water.
The illustrations in the book are beautiful, the storyline is both gothic and silly in parts, and they all live dangerously ever after. Checking this book out of the library wasn't enough; we needed to own this one. I may request it for bedtime more than my child does. ;)
Edit: I think Princess Amanita would love this Poison Garden: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/27/525143152/welcome-to-the-poison-garden-medicines-medieval-roots
"But what does it DO?" she asks when a prince offers to bring roses from his garden. Smelling nice is just not appealing, so she puts the roses in the water with the thorns sticking up out of the water.
The illustrations in the book are beautiful, the storyline is both gothic and silly in parts, and they all live dangerously ever after. Checking this book out of the library wasn't enough; we needed to own this one. I may request it for bedtime more than my child does. ;)
Edit: I think Princess Amanita would love this Poison Garden: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/27/525143152/welcome-to-the-poison-garden-medicines-medieval-roots
toad_maiden's review against another edition
2.0
Great details and decent characterization, but I found myself asking "so what?" at the end.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
This story was a pleasure to read. The fanciful artwork delights the eye and the princess and her dangerous garden are interesting.
The princess's hair is done up in a do that looks like a scorpion tail. She loves dangerous things like plants with spikes and terrible smells and walking blindfolded at the edge of the moat. There is a line later where she is on her own away from her castle where she says that she loves dangerous things when she knows her home is safe. It's a great idea and part of growing up.
She meets a prince who is normal and that bores her, but after hurting one of her grenade plants he brings her roses. She doesn't like the smell, but she loves their thorns. She has the prince send her some seeds and they turn out to be these weird flowers that are noses and they don't like bad smells, so they have allergies at the princesses.
I love the imagination of flowers that are noses. There are wonderful ideas in this twisted little story. There is a love story, but its between the nose flowers and the roses, funnily enough, which that twist makes me happy.
This has all the elements of a known fairytale, but they are all twisted and given a big spiced dose of girl power. I had fun reading this and do think it will be enjoyed by kids.
The princess's hair is done up in a do that looks like a scorpion tail. She loves dangerous things like plants with spikes and terrible smells and walking blindfolded at the edge of the moat. There is a line later where she is on her own away from her castle where she says that she loves dangerous things when she knows her home is safe. It's a great idea and part of growing up.
She meets a prince who is normal and that bores her, but after hurting one of her grenade plants he brings her roses. She doesn't like the smell, but she loves their thorns. She has the prince send her some seeds and they turn out to be these weird flowers that are noses and they don't like bad smells, so they have allergies at the princesses.
I love the imagination of flowers that are noses. There are wonderful ideas in this twisted little story. There is a love story, but its between the nose flowers and the roses, funnily enough, which that twist makes me happy.
This has all the elements of a known fairytale, but they are all twisted and given a big spiced dose of girl power. I had fun reading this and do think it will be enjoyed by kids.
lara_jean's review against another edition
2.0
I like that this princess is different, but I do not like that she’s rude.
funfetti7's review against another edition
4.0
2013 Update: (see original review below)
Now that this book is age-appropriate for my daughter (she's now almost 4) she loves this book! My minor quibbles about the book are now gone. Clearly, she was just a little bit too young last year. She now understands most of the puns and laughs out loud about the silly noses. Very cute.
Original review:
When I received an email from this author asking me to review her latest picture book, I was thrilled. I LOVED Sea Serpent and Me, which had been a baby shower gift from a good friend of mine (thank you, P!). The ending makes me tear up every time. So cute.
While this story doesn't feature a cute little girl and her sea serpent, it does feature a spunky princess and a creepy garden.
Dangerously Ever After is the story of Princess Amanita, a princess who wears blue and has a dangerous garden full of plants like stink lilies and grenapes (grenade + grapes = grenape). When the Princess receives roses from Prince Florian and is enamored by their dangerous thorns, she requests some seeds for her garden. Unfortunately, instead of roses, she receives noses, and she must find her way to Prince Florian's castle to give them back.
The story itself is cute and the illustrations have lots of fascinating details to look at. Princess Amanita is a great counterpoint to those Disney Princesses who my daughter is already starting to love.
Toddler Monkey's reaction: She's like Rapunzel!
Me (inwardly groaning at Disney Princess reference): Why?
Toddler Monkey: Because she wants to leave her castle!
Me: Oh. Okay.
While I was happy to read a story with a spunky, independent princess (who also wore pretty and unusual dresses), I'm not sure my toddler was quite ready for this one. She was very puzzled about why Amanita would like dangerous things ("Why does she like thorns? I don't like thorns!") and I wasn't sure how much explaining I wanted to do, not wanting to make dangerous things like "leaning out of the topmost turret of the castle" sound appealing to her toddler brain.
But I think this book will grow on her (gardening pun intended) in a few years.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Now that this book is age-appropriate for my daughter (she's now almost 4) she loves this book! My minor quibbles about the book are now gone. Clearly, she was just a little bit too young last year. She now understands most of the puns and laughs out loud about the silly noses. Very cute.
Original review:
When I received an email from this author asking me to review her latest picture book, I was thrilled. I LOVED Sea Serpent and Me, which had been a baby shower gift from a good friend of mine (thank you, P!). The ending makes me tear up every time. So cute.
While this story doesn't feature a cute little girl and her sea serpent, it does feature a spunky princess and a creepy garden.
Dangerously Ever After is the story of Princess Amanita, a princess who wears blue and has a dangerous garden full of plants like stink lilies and grenapes (grenade + grapes = grenape). When the Princess receives roses from Prince Florian and is enamored by their dangerous thorns, she requests some seeds for her garden. Unfortunately, instead of roses, she receives noses, and she must find her way to Prince Florian's castle to give them back.
The story itself is cute and the illustrations have lots of fascinating details to look at. Princess Amanita is a great counterpoint to those Disney Princesses who my daughter is already starting to love.
Toddler Monkey's reaction: She's like Rapunzel!
Me (inwardly groaning at Disney Princess reference): Why?
Toddler Monkey: Because she wants to leave her castle!
Me: Oh. Okay.
While I was happy to read a story with a spunky, independent princess (who also wore pretty and unusual dresses), I'm not sure my toddler was quite ready for this one. She was very puzzled about why Amanita would like dangerous things ("Why does she like thorns? I don't like thorns!") and I wasn't sure how much explaining I wanted to do, not wanting to make dangerous things like "leaning out of the topmost turret of the castle" sound appealing to her toddler brain.
But I think this book will grow on her (gardening pun intended) in a few years.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.