Unbirthday (Twisted Tale Series #10)

by Liz Braswell

Overview

What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late? Alice is different than other eighteen-year-old ladies in Kexford, which is perfectly fine with her. She'd rather spend golden afternoons with her trusty camera or in her aunt Vivian's lively salon, ignoring her sister's wishes that she stop all that "nonsense" and become a "respectable" member of society. Alice is happy to meander to Miss. Yao's teashop or to visit the children playing in the Square. She's also interested in learning more about the young lawyer she met there, but just because she's curious, of course, not because he was sweet and charming. But when Alice develops photographs she has recently taken about town, familiar faces of old suddenly appear in the place of her actual subjects-the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar. There's something eerily off about them, even for Wonderland creatures. And as Alice develops a self-portrait, she finds the most disturbing image of all-a badly-injured dark-haired girl asking for Alice's help. Mary Ann. Returning to the place of nonsense from her childhood, Alice finds herself on a mission to stop the Queen of Hearts' tyrannical rule and to find her place in both worlds. But will she able to do so . . . before the End of Time?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368056403
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Series:	Twisted Tale Series
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	117,546
Lexile:	780L (what's this?)
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Author Info:
Liz Braswell spent her childhood reading fairy tales, catching frogs, and going on adventures in the woods with her stuffed animals. She has a degree in Egyptology from Brown University (and yes, she can write your name in hieroglyphs). After making video games for ten years Liz now writes full-time and plays video games for fun. She has written Snow, Rx, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, and several books in the best-selling Twisted Tales series, including Part of Your World and As Old as Time. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish, and five coffee trees, and still sleeps with a Stuffy.  You can email her at [e-mail] or Instagram and tweet @LizBraswell.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2020

Gr 9 Up—Braswell puts a darker spin on Disney's Alice In Wonderland. Alice is now 18, an adventurous and aspiring photographer. As she takes her photos, some familiar Wonderland faces appear, old friends beckoning her to help them. Alice must navigate both family drama and a burning desire to return to Wonderland through her sister's annoying desires for marriage and expectations to become a proper lady in society. Along the way, Alice meets a misunderstood young lawyer, who is outside the proper social circle, just as she is. This book hits on racial and social injustice in 19th-century England, allowing Alice, who is white, and readers to explore the subjective reality of right and wrong. Through trials and tears, Alice finds herself in and out of Wonderland, trying to save her friends from the Queen of Hearts. The Queen has one objective—to win, whatever the cost. Even though the original story is twisted and strange, this retelling is dark, grim, and grotesque at times. Wonderland isn't tea parties and delicious tiny cakes, but scary and dangerous. It'll take a unique reader and true Alice fan to appreciate this almost horrorlike adaptation. VERDICT A strange reimagining of Wonderland for dark fantasy and horror fans.—Paige Kostelyk, DeMotte Christian Grade School, IN

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