Charmed, I'm Sure by Sarah Darer Littman - ADVISABLE

Littman, Sarah Darer.  Charmed, I’m Sure.  193 pages.  Aladdin (Simon & Schuster), 2016.  $17.99.  Content: G.

Rosamunde White Charming is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, but her life isn’t happily ever after.  She’s an eighth grader in New York City and her two best friends have dates to the Fall Festive and she doesn’t.  She asks her mom for some advice and she sends Rosie to her stylist for a makeover and gives her a compact mirror.  Rosie starts hearing a voice from the compact mirror.  The mirror promises to make Rosie the fairest of them all—but it comes at the cost of friendships and her own personality.  Can Rosie just be herself and still find a date to the dance?

A charming spin on the Snow White story, that pre-teens will drink up faster than you can order a latte at Starcups.  Rosie’s character development is central to the story—discovering who she is and how important it is to be herself and not who someone else wants her to be.  Rosie’s antics to find a date are both funny and believable.  Readers looking for age-appropriate romance will be drawn to the Shakespeare Mystery Boy, who she met at Starcups who liked her before she became the fairest.  A fun, fast-reading, romantic romp. 

EL, MS-ADVISABLE.  Samantha Hastings, MA, MLS.