Cinders and Sparks #1: Magic at Midnight

by Lindsey Kelk, Shaina Summerville (Read by)

Overview

Cinders & Sparks is a fresh, funny, and fabulous take on Cinderella for everyone who loves series like Whatever After and Grimmtastic Girls.

Cinders isn’t supposed to know how to do magic. Her dog, Sparks, isn’t supposed to talk. And they’re definitely not supposed to go to the fancy palace ball....

But with a fairy godmother named Brian, do we really think that’s going to stop them?

Bestselling author Lindsey Kelk makes her children’s debut with the first book in a ridiculously entertaining trilogy filled with adventure, talking dogs, and pure comic silliness. Perfect for readers age 8–12.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781799953111
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/13/2021
Series:	Cinders and Sparks Series , #1
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lindsey Kelk is a writer and children’s book editor. When she isn’t writing, reading, listening to music, or watching more TV than is healthy, Lindsey likes to wear shoes, shop for shoes, and judge the shoes of others. Born in England, Lindsey loves living in New York but misses Sherbet Fountains, London, and drinking gin and elderflower cocktails with her friends. Not necessarily in that order.

A lifelong bookworm, Shaina Summerville fell into audiobook narration after nearly a decade of professional theater experience in the Chicago theater circuit. She loves narrating YA fiction, cozy mysteries, and nonfiction. An academic at heart, Shaina has bachelor's degrees in musical theater and communication arts from Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin and completed a graduate certificate in aquaculture and fish health from the University of Florida. She loves being able to tie together her many skills and interests to bring both fiction and nonfiction to life. When not narrating or performing onstage, Shaina may be found hiking, taking photographs, tap dancing, or cheering on the Chicago Cubs.

Editorial Reviews

A Cinderella with 21st-century attitude. Playful and fun for youngsters who love classic fairy tales.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-01-26
A Cinderella with 21st-century attitudes begins a fairy-tale quest.

Kelk, a prolific author of light romance for adults, offers younger readers a fractured fairy-tale fantasy that is similarly entertaining. This volume begins as a story about a blended family, a palace, and a ball during which the prince will choose a bride. But nothing is quite what one might expect. There’s Sparks, a talking dog, and a woman named Brian, who is a fairy godmother, and then it’s Cinders herself who wields the magic—though not without difficulty, at least at first. Cinders is messy and prefers being outside. Prince Joderick would rather be baking brownies. The royal family is terrified of fairies, whom they believe to be monsters based on a long-ago rivalry and a royal pact that should have banished all the fairies from their land. However, late in the narrative readers learn information about Cinders’ mother that many might already have suspected. Curnick’s amusing grayscale cartoons show a dark-skinned royal family; Cinders and Brian appear White. There’s plenty of humor in the text as well. The abrupt ending, which takes a significant detour from the original “Cinderella,” will be a jolt to many but leaves the door open for the sequel.

Playful and fun for youngsters who know and love classic fairy tales. (Fantasy. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews