Most kids read fairy tales and fall in love with the princesses and the heroes. They are the main characters after all. So I have found it comical that my younger daughter has a complete fascination with the villains. She wants to learn all about them. She wants to hear their stories from the other side. She enjoys watching movies about them. She sometimes wants to dress up like them for Halloween (although this year, she picked a huntress and is now obsessed with Katniss Everdeen). As the season for bad guys and spooky characters comes upon us, E and I had a lot of fun with Disney’s Villains: The Evilest of Them All.
When J was younger and obsessed with fairy tales, we had things like the Fairy Tale Encyclopedia which gave tons of information about each princess and it was read over and over and over again. So it didn’t surprise me that E enjoyed a pint sized version of a similar book about villains. This book is a wealth of information on everyone from the Evil Queen to Dr. Facilier.
Each character gets a spread of bullet pointed information just like a celebrity would get in a teen magazine and then they get to tell their story from their own point of view with comical comments by their evil assistants.
The minute that this book arrived, E was jumping for joy. The “stories” are incredibly tongue-in-cheek which makes it funnier for parents who have to read it to their kids. I haven’t read any to E, so I just laughed at them myself. The colors are vivid, the fonts playful, and some of the pages feature flaps and fold-outs. I especially love the choices for the Queen of Hearts.
The fact that the villains get to speak in their own voices sets this book apart. We love reading fractured fairy tales and retellings to consider how we might change the story and how we can look at things in many different ways. If you have a kid who enjoys stories about the bad guys, definitely check this out!
Just love that kid!