Synopses & Reviews
Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change. Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it's up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.
Debut author Christopher Healy takes us on a journey with four imperfect princes and their four improbable princesses, all of whom are trying to become perfect heroes—a fast-paced, funny, and fresh introduction to a world where everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems.
Review
"[A] lively, humorous adventure." Wall Street Journal
Review
"The fairy-tale world is tongue-in-cheek but fleshed out, creating its own humor rather than relying on pop-culture references. Healy juggles with pitch-perfect accuracy, rendering the princes as goobers with good hearts and individual strengths, keeping them distinct and believable. Inventive and hilarious." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
"Healy's fast-paced debut is overflowing with suspense, humor, and carefully developed characters. Healy injects age-old characters and fairy tale tropes with a fresh, contemporary sensibility, resulting in a crowd-pleaser with laugh-out-loud lines on nearly every page." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"One of the more clever, hilariously successful incarnations of the current literary rage to rip apart and rewrite fairy tales....The princes in The Hero's Guide may not be charming, but Healy's romp of a book about them most certainly is." Los Angeles Times
Review
"The premise is indeed charming...a quest that recalls at moments the Musketeers and at others, the Marxes." New York Times Book Review
Review
"This is the most fun you can have short of rounding up King Arthur's knights, filling their armor with laughing gas, and driving them to a roller disco." Frank Cottrell Boyce, New York Times bestselling author of COSMIC
About the Author
Christopher Healy spent years reviewing children's books and media online and in print before setting off to write The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, his first children's book. He lives with his wife and their two children in New Jersey.