Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages
263
Description
When her mother goes on a NASA mission, Cat Starr is sent to live with her father, stepsister Olivia, and younger brother Geoffrey, but interference by her inept fairy godmother causes toads to appear when Cat speaks and gems to fall from Olivia's mouth, bringing one to the attention of jewel thieves and the other to a secret government laboratory.
Description
A girl gets into a mouthful of trouble in this modern fractured fairy tale, from the author of The Mother-Daughter Book Club.
Once upon a time, Cat Starr lived with her astronaut mom in Houston. But when her mother gets sent on a long-term mission, Cat has to move to a far away land—her dad’s house, halfway across the country—and share a room with her real-life evil stepsister, Olivia. Just when Cat can’t take it anymore, Great-Aunt Abyssinia comes to the rescue. And things go from bad to worse.
The next morning, Cat opens her mouth and a toad hops out! What’s more, when Olivia speaks, diamonds and flowers appear. How unfair is that? Before you can say "happily ever after," the girls are on the run from jewel thieves and a government agency. Can Cat save the day—and get rid of all those toads?
Once upon a time, Cat Starr lived with her astronaut mom in Houston. But when her mother gets sent on a long-term mission, Cat has to move to a far away land—her dad’s house, halfway across the country—and share a room with her real-life evil stepsister, Olivia. Just when Cat can’t take it anymore, Great-Aunt Abyssinia comes to the rescue. And things go from bad to worse.
The next morning, Cat opens her mouth and a toad hops out! What’s more, when Olivia speaks, diamonds and flowers appear. How unfair is that? Before you can say "happily ever after," the girls are on the run from jewel thieves and a government agency. Can Cat save the day—and get rid of all those toads?
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
263 p.; 7.6 inches
ISBN
1416984798 / 9781416984795
Similar in this library
Lexile
760L
User reviews
LibraryThing member ptorres
This was a fun read. Using Cat's step-family as the backdrop Frederick artfully used a familiar fairytale to put her characters in extraordinary circumstances. It was funny, touching and exciting all at once. The twists and turns and quick pace makes the book hard to put down.
LibraryThing member satyridae
I really enjoyed this over-the-top reworking of an old fairy tale. I found the characters fun and believable, the set-up enjoyable, and the payoff delightful. I loved that it's set in my town, and I dug the Great Aunt a lot. There's a tiny Betsy-Tacy nod embedded in this book, and it made me laugh
Frederick has a sure hand with snappy dialogue, and her middle-schoolers are very true to life.
Disclosure: I'm friends with Frederick in real life.
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out loud. I would have loved this even more had I read it at age 9 or so. Frederick has a sure hand with snappy dialogue, and her middle-schoolers are very true to life.
Disclosure: I'm friends with Frederick in real life.
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LibraryThing member the1butterfly
So a messed up fairy godmother gets a tale wrong, but the lesson works out anyway. To go with the traditional fairy tale, Cat should have spitted diamonds and flowers and Olivia should have spit out toads, but non-traditional not entirely competent fairy godmother puts a wrench in things. In line
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with the traditional tale, the sisters both learn a valuable lesson and find common ground (although Cat has the harder time throughout and Olivia was really the one who caused the problems from the get-go with her bullying). Show Less
Call number
J4A.Fre