{Giveaway} See Anna and Hans in a Whole New Way in A FROZEN HEART #FairyTale2pt0

My daughter is more than a little obsessed with Frozen, and has been since I took her to see it in the theater. She's got the movie, books, dress-up clothes, dolls...all featuring characters from the movie. So, when I was offered up a copy for review as well as an opportunity to share it with you guys in a giveaway, I couldn't say yes fast enough. Katie and I haven't gotten to the book yet -- school reading takes priority, boo! -- but here's a little more about A Frozen Heart:

A FROZEN HEART

by Elizabeth Rudnick

In stores now!

About the Book

Told in alternating chapters from both Anna's and Hans' perspectives, A Frozen Heart takes a sophisticated look at events of Frozen, exploring the couple's backstories, motivations, and doomed relationship.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Rudnick has written over thirty books, including the original novel Tweet Heart and tie-ins such as Frankenweenie: A Novel; Oz: The Great and Powerful; and the best-selling junior novel based on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and two lovable mutts, Jack and Ginger.

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#FairyTale2pt0

One (1) winner receives:

• Copy of A Frozen Heart
• plus FAIRY TALE 2.0 tank, notepad, cosmetic pouch & pillow.

Giveaway open to US addresses only.
Prizing and samples provided by Disney-Hyperion.

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Follow along with hashtag #FairyTale2pt0 to discover giveaway opportunities for more twists on classic tales:

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

by Liz Braswell

In stores now!

About the Book

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

ONCE UPON A TIME: RED’S UNTOLD TALE
by Wendy Toliver
In stores now!

About the Book

Red is 16 and lives with Granny in a cottage in the village, where boarding up the house and hiding during Wolfstime is a means of survival. Red help’s Granny with Granny’s baked good business, catering as well as door-to-door sales. Red has a constant internal battle between her wild side and her strict, overprotective upbringing, and the issue of “control” as she discovers she has a hot temper when the “mean girls” push her too far. (“When we learn to control it, we needn’t fear it,” Rumpelstiltskin says in the series.) She has flashbacks to her 13th year when she received her cloak and the nickname “Red.” She is plagued by nightmares that she doesn’t understand, but the Once Upon a Time fans will recognize them as her wolf side coming out. Red balances the difficult times with Granny at home and the girls at school with an emerging and satisfying romance with Peter.

Thanks for stopping by & happy reading!

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Labels: disney hyperion, fairy tales, frozen, giveaways, promotions, retellings

Christmas Crafts with my Girl #2 - Tee Light Olaf

Christmas is coming up quick, so we are in a rush to get our gifting crafts done. This one however
kinda just worked it's way into our plans. Last year we made tee light snowmen. They turned out really cute. here is where I got that idea ---> Pinterest. I changed ours up a little, but he came out pretty similar. While in the shower the other day.. (because the best thinking happens in the shower)... I came up with the idea on how to make one look like Olaf. We have a ton of extra tee lights laying around and they kinda look like Olafs nose.. So here is how we made them.

First, you will need these supplies. 

1. White foam sheet  (Here it's shown already cut into the Olaf shape)

2. Eye Balls 

3. Tee Light 

4. Black Marker

5. Hole Puncher

6. Ribbon or Yard for hanging

The first thing I did was cut the foam into Olafs Shape. I started with the head, but technically you could draw the full body shape so you don't have to glue those pieces together. I was kind of crafting on a whim here. 

After I cut the head, I measured about where I think the nose should go, and then I hole punched it. The hole punch was perfect because it fits perfectly around the flame of the tee light. I still glued it to make it secure. 

I colored in the face with black marker and I glued the eyeballs in the appropriate spots. Then I glued the had to the body. I used brown pipe cleaners for the stick arms and hair. I found they worked perfect because you can bend them however you want. 

When he was all finished I glued some ribbon around the tee light and hung him on the tree. Presto.. Easy Peasy! 

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Labels: christmas ornaments, crafts, DiY, frozen, olaf, tee lights

{Movie} Review: Frozen

We all delight in seeing our favorite books brought to life on the big screen.  We cringe at casting.  We scoff at release dates.  All the while, we're gearing up to see if the director's vision lives up to the world we've conceived in our own imaginations.  Sometimes it does...and sometimes it doesn't.  We could lament the movies that don't measure up, or we could return to the books for a re-read, possibly with a slightly different mind-set.  All's fair when it comes to artistic vision, right?





Today, I'm featuring the following adaptation:

Title: Frozen
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Stars: Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel
Release date: November 27, 2013
Based on: The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.

I shamefacedly admit that I have The Complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen in a gorgeous leatherbound volume sitting on my shelf, completely unread.  It was a gift several years ago and I love it in theory, but the thing is huge and rather daunting, and so I've never been compelled to pick it up.  I know of the stories in the book, but I've never actually sat down to read them.  I know that Frozen is only very loosely based on The Snow Queen, but I'd still like to read the original story, which is said to be one of the most beloved by this author.

That being said, I might have a new favorite Disney movie.  Seriously...it rivals my adoration for Tangled.  We took Katie to see it back when it first came out, and we all loved it.  Then, her daddy was out of town for the weekend so I decided to make it a girls' weekend and treat her to mani/pedis and another viewing of this beautiful movie yesterday.  So worth it. And since I've now seen it twice, I decided maybe I should review it this time around.

First off, I have to say I love how this movie scoffed at insta-love, how it thumbed it's nose at love-at-first-sight and all that jazz.  It's a sweet movie, and there's definitely romance involved, but it was interesting to see both sides of love portrayed in this film:  the instant gratification kind and the slow burn.  Obviously, I'm in favor of the second.  But it was also nice to see the repercussions of a fast and furious love affair depicted.

Most of the cast is rather unknown to me, but sometimes, I think that's best, as in this case.  However, I absolutely adored the casting of Kristen Bell as Anna, and I was ecstatic to find out that she did all her own singing!  (It was kind of like when I found out that all the cast in Pitch Perfect had to be able to sing, too.) I've loved Kristen since her days as Veronica Mars (another movie I'm terribly excited for) and I think she was perfectly cast as the sweet but spunky Anna.

The side characters were all pretty awesome in their own right, as well, and just as perfectly cast, especially that Olaf fellow.  I think the first time I saw that little snippet with Olaf and Sven and the carrot, I thought it was Jack McBrayer voicing the clumsy snowman.  Just seems like a role he would take on, but Josh Gad was actually the voice of Olaf.  He did an outstanding job, too.  And Sven may not have had any lines -- other than the ones Kristoff put in his mouth -- but he was easily one of my favorite characters.

I loved this parable in which two sisters must learn their own place in the world in the absence of their parents.  Their relationship became strained at an early age, but through trials and tribulations, they've found their way back to each other.  The power of true love really is enchanting, and I was captivated with the way it was expressed in this story. Especially that true love isn't just the love found between a person and their significant other but that it can also be the bond between family.

Just from what I've read, the story in this movie is very different from the original tale, but I like the spin that Disney's put on it.  The heroine was plucky and courageous, just as I expect from my Disney princesses, and though there was no frying pan-turned-weapon in this movie, Anna did wield a musical instrument when she was being attacked.  :)  The animation was gorgeous, as per usual, and even the song and dance numbers made me smile.  All in all, another winner from the creators of Tangled and Wreck-it Ralph.

GIF it to me straight:

Utterly adorable, unbelievably cute...a must-see!

Have you read the story before?  Have you seen the movie?  How do you think this one fared as an adaptation?

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Labels: favorites, frozen, movie mondays, movie reviews, must-see, reviews