A Whole New World

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

After looking at the title, did you break out into the title song from the Disney movie, Aladdin, like I do every time I hear those words?  This fantasy novel has an interesting concept in connection to the Aladdin story.  In our "Twisted Tale," this story take an intricate part of the plot and changes it.  The premice - What if Aladdin never held onto the magic lamp and never received his wished from the Genie; and instead, Jaffar used the genie and his wishes to take control of Agrabah.  But the story does not end there - Aladdin and Jasmine team up with the street rats and those oppose the evil rule of Jaffar to lead a rebellion.  Can they do it without the help of the magic lamp and the genie?

The start of the novel reads just like the classic Disney movie.  It feels like the same story until the pivotal twist.  There are many new characters introduced to create Aladdin's back story and will help with the rebellion.  There are also the classic characters from the movie, but some of them will not survive this new twist.  I am curious to see if there will be a series that could form from these types of novels that change the beloved Disney movies to tell a new story.

If you are a purist of Aladdin, you may have a hard time reading this novel, but I found it fascinating to see how the author worked with the well-known characters, and how will the ending change from the original movie.

AUTHOR:  Liz Braswell

GENRE: Fantasy, Disney

GRADES: 6-8

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Kids, students, and life-long readers,

DISCLAIMER - This book talk is for the second book in a series.  If you have not read the first book, I highly recommend you do not read this book talk as it will reveal what may have happened to characters from the first book.  The first book is entitled BENEATH by Roland Smith.




Alright, everyone, our main characters are back, Pat, Coop, and Kate, but they are still on the run from the Shadows.  After telling their story to the FBI, Alex, sends them off to different parts of the country to shake off any of the Shadows that might be following them.  The plot picks up when they all meet together in Oregon to fill everyone in on what has been happening, but it doesn't take long for the Shadows to find them and Kate is taken captive.  Coop, Pat, and Alex are on the hunt down the western coast to try and find Kate before Lod follows through with his new master plan.  That's right, the Lord of the Deep is back, and he has a new diabolical plan.

The main part of the book is the chase, but the author leaves many clues and questions for the reader to try and figure out and let's just say not everyone should be trusted.  This book should also answer any questions that you had from the first book in the series, BENEATH.  If you liked the first book, you should definitely read the second book to see if Pat and Coop can make it in time, will Kate survive after her betrayal, who will betray them this time, and can they stop Lod in time.

Author:  Roland Smith

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Adventure

Grade Level - 5th-8th grade