Alluring Reads

My daughter has become pretty well-known at her school for picking out the most elusive, odd looking library books that other kids never take a second glance at. While the other kids are bring home The Magic School Bus, Dr. Seuss, and Dora The Explorer, Sloane always brings home more artsy titles, and I have to admit I am pretty proud of that. But in the case of The Magic Nesting Doll it meant that I had to read it to her, word for word, and there are a lot of words! Here is an example of a page of this book:Pages like this made for a really long bed time story! While I did enjoy the story quite a bit, the kids started to wane somewhere around the 25% mark and get pretty antsy. I do think that the story could have been shortened quite a bit, as it was pretty repetitive and was full of Katja going back and forth. Because of the kids losing interest in it pretty early on I have to say that it was an unsuccessful book in our home. One thing that can not be overlooked in this story is the wonderful illustrations. They're not just illustrations but they are paintings and the detail in each and every one is absolutely breathtaking. When the kids minds started to wander we would take time to stare at the paintings and talk about the details we saw that stood out to us and it reigned their attention back in.This is a very pretty book and a plot feels very fairytale-esque. Instead of having a sleeping beauty who needs to be brought back to life, we have a frozen prince. It felt to me as if this book was a high fantasy children's book, with all the fleshing out of details and the epic quest that Katja went on. I think there are people who will love this book, but make sure your child is a bit older when you read it to them. It's very long and very detailed, so it's definitely not for the wondering mind of a toddler!