Sink or Swim

{My Thoughts} – Abby and Jonah get to go on another exciting adventure in the fairy tale world within the pages of the book. Abby is upset in the beginning of the book because she finds out that she and her mother aren’t going to go on a trip they were suppose to go on to go and see her grandma. She even had her suitcase packed and everything and then she learned the trip wasn’t happening. In an attempt to figure out how to deal with the poor news she’d gotten her and Jonah go down to the basement with the suitcase she packed, they even add some extra things inside for Jonah and they visit the magic mirror. They hope against all odds that they have what they need with them to go on a trip through the mirror. It appears they did show more because they were able to travel to the Kingdom of Mustard and got to meet Lana the Little Mermaid.

It is up to Abby and Jonah to help Lana so that her story can become a happy ending, instead of a sad ending like the original tale had been. Abby and Jonah know all the original tales because their grandma had read them to them as they were growing up. I quite personally don’t think I could have been able to read such gruesome tales to my children, so in my house we stick with happy re-writes. My daughter seems to be the only one that is interested in them to say the least, but its an interest her and I both share.

I am really enjoying being able to bond with my daughter over these books, I am also enjoying reading about how things could have been instead of what they were. These stories as old as they are, will always be subject to rewrites. I haven’t read many rewrites that I haven’t been able to fall in love with, there are so many out there and most of them have the ability to capture my attention until the very end. I truly enjoy reading this series for that reason. I want to get to the end, I want to read all the happy ending rewrites, and I am totally in love with Jonah and Abby. They make such a wonderful character duo within the pages of these books, they each have such a unique personality but when you blend the two together in conversation it turns into something amazing.

If you want to know what happens in Lana’s story your going to need to read the book. I am going to be moving onto the next book within the series shortly. show less

Sink or Swim was probably the Whatever After book that I was most looking forward to so far (I think book #5 is Rapunzel, which I’m really excited for), as it centers around The Little Mermaid, which is one of my favorite fairy tales. However, I forgot at the time that Sarah’s books are retellings of the original Grimm fairy tales, and not the Disney movies, so it was going to be very different.

Sink or Swim starts off with Abby packing for a trip to see her Nana with her mom. When the trip is unexpectedly cancelled, she decides to try to get through the mirror again. This proves to be successful, but Abby is surprised to find herself nearly drowning when the mirror pulls them through. It quickly occurs to her that they’re in The show more Little Mermaid fairy tale.

Though there were some humorous aspects of Sink or Swim (such as them landing in the Kingdom of Mustard, where everyone wears yellow and ketchup is a four-letter word), overall, it felt more like a story about the ultimate vacation. It also seems like at any given time, Abby has no idea what’s going on, and her little brother doesn’t care.

I didn’t find myself really caring for the Prince or the Little Mermaid in this tale, so it was hard for me to get invested in their story. I felt like the story dragged for quite a while, and then the ending was rushed.

Overall, I thought that Sink or Swim was a cute retelling but that it wasn’t as clever or interesting as the previous Whatever After books.

This review was originally posted on my blog, here. show less

Cute book about a little girl. Decent read for children on a new twist to a fantasy world.

00014936