Jane Yolen just came out with a new fairy tale twist on the Snow White series, which led me to this book she wrote about 20 years ago. I love the Sleeping Beauty story and the idea of twisting it to be a Holocaust tale really intrigued me. I'm not sure if what was selling in '92 was different than what is written for today's young adults, but I was not as happy with it as I had hoped I would be.
I really liked the aspect of mystery with the lead character tracing down her recently passed Grandmother's life story and I liked the tie in of the Sleeping Beauty tale and how it was a metaphor for the grandmother's life, but I kept expecting us to jump back in the past and see the comparisons and have a Holocaust story from start to finish and as that kept not happening and kept focusing on the granddaughter and her hunt for the truth, I became more and more disappointed.
When we do finally get the tale at the end, I was completely absorbed and I just wished there was a way to have extended that and only told that story as if it were the Sleeping Beauty tale.
Also the protagonist was in her late twenties and it felt like a very grown up adult story that doesn't seem like it would connect with teen readers.
Interest Level: YA Reading level: Grade 5
Genre: Historical Fiction
Comparable Titles: Milkweed, Number the Stars
Book Connections: Holocaust, Sleeping Beauty, Poland
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