Tag Archives: Megan Morrison

Read This!: TRANSFORMED: THE PERILS OF THE FROG PRINCE by Megan Morrison

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Transformed: The Perils of the Frog Prince (Tyme #3)Transformed: The Perils of the Frog Prince by Megan Morrison

The third book in the Tyme series is a slam dunk from beginning to end. In GROUNDED and DISENCHANTED, Morrison turned familiar fairy tales on their heads; in this outing, she goes one step further and upends readers’ understanding of the first two books. That’s because Prince Frog, Rapunzel’s small green companion, turns out to be none other than Prince Syrah of the Olive Isles, a loathsome, selfish lad who made the wrong wish on a well. While roaming the land of Tyme with Rapunzel and Jack, Syrah has tried desperately to get home, to someone who might be able to help him turn human again, and the All Tyme Championships in Yellow Country are his chance. But when a mysterious illness cuts the competition short and the governor lapses into a coma, Syrah has to become the world’s smallest detective to figure out what’s happening and how to be a decent human being to break the curse.

There is so much I love about this book. I love that Syrah is a royal jerk. I love that, just as she did with Rapunzel, Morrison has given us a protagonist who is not immediately likeable but is definitely relatable, and then plops us right into his perspective and shows how he justifies everything to himself. I love everything about the ending, which I won’t give away, but just trust me, READ IT. I love how much we learn about Jack and Rapunzel, even though this isn’t their story. I love how badass and awesome Deli, the object of Syrah’s affections, and her grandmother both are, and how nuanced the relationship between them is. I love how Syrah learns how he must transform to be transformed. And I love how Morrison pulls in real-world issues like GMOs, election politics, and women’s rights with the lightest touch, weaving a spell that will have readers demanding more tales from the land of Tyme.

TRANSFORMED is out now.

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Read This!: DISENCHANTED: THE TRIALS OF CINDERELLA by Megan Morrison

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Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella (Tyme, #2)Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella by Megan Morrison

Summary: Ella Coach has one wish: revolution. Her mother died working in a sweatshop, and Ella wants every laborer in the Blue Kingdom to receive fairer treatment. But to make that happen, she’ll need some high-level support . . .

Prince Dash Charming has one wish: evolution. The Charming Curse forced generations of Charming men to lie, cheat, and break hearts — but with the witch Envearia’s death, the curse has ended. Now Dash wants to be a better person, but he doesn’t know where to start . . .

Serge can grant any wish — and has: As an executive fairy godfather, he’s catered to the wildest whims of spoiled teenagers from the richest, most entitled families in Blue. But now a new name has come up on his list, someone nobody’s ever heard of . . . Ella Coach.

I just love this book. I read an early version of it, and that was incredible, but now I have just read the final version and I am even more blown away. This is one of those books that I just want to shove at people and say, “READ IT and you’ll understand!”, but I will try to be coherent here in explaining why.

The land of Tyme is the most fully-fleshed out setting I have ever read in a fairy tale retelling. Seriously, there is so much going at every level, large and small, and all of it adds up to a place that feel more real than most stories set in the real world. Then there are the characters: Ella is smart and fierce and determined and funny and flawed – a heroine at once relatable and aspirational. We should all strive to be as awesome as Ella. Watching Prince Dash Charming stumble through the aftermath of the broken curse – and the uncomfortable realization of his own privilege – is at once painful and inspiring. And he and Ella together are just lovely. There are also tons of other incredibly well developed female characters in the story: Sharlyn, the prickly stepmother who shows herself to be one of Ella’s staunchest defenders; Queen Maud, whose moral compass holds more sway over her husband and son than she knows; Jules, the fairy with ulterior motives; and Lady Lariat Jacquard, a villain on par with Dolores Umbridge for pure bile.

Morrison is not afraid to take on big topics from the real world and present them in a way that makes sense to young readers. No one can come away from this story without a deeper understanding of privilege, economic systems, and the importance of fair labor regulations. Morrison takes the central themes of the Cinderella story – rags-to-riches, deceiving appearances – and spins them out into a tale about examining what lies beneath our assumptions about others and developing empathy. And how did I get so far without mentioning Serge and Jasper? The additional layers of story created by Serge’s burgeoning realization that cause to which he has dedicated his life has been corrupted, and by his relationship with Jasper, take this far beyond a typical fairy tale retelling. No series has combined whimsy with compelling issues from the real world as seamlessly as this since Harry Potter.

DISENCHANTED: THE TRIALS OF CINDERELLA is out now.

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An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

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I recently had the enormous pleasure of interviewing my good friend, Megan Morrison, about her debut middle grade novel, GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL, for the Sweet Sixteens’ debut author interview series, The Debut Club. This is an extended version of that interview, in which we learn more about Megan’s influences as a writer and friends from her past return to ask her tough questions.

Megan and I have been friends for almost fifteen years. We first met bonding over Hermione-centric Harry Potter fanfiction, and the intervening years have held lots of obsessing over fictional characters, matching tattoos (quills, if you must know), and writing – so, so much writing. I am so proud of Megan and what she has done with the Tyme series, and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

More about Megan:

HiRes_Morrison_6814_cropMegan Morrison spends her time having adventures with her husband and little boy, teaching drama and language arts to 7th and 8th graders, and writing fairy tales set in the world of Tyme, which she co-created with Ruth Virkus. When she’s not busy working on something or other, she enjoys obsessing over other people’s stories. She’s a huge, dress-up-in-costumes-and-scream-a-lot level fan of Harry Potter, Jane Austen, Star Wars, Firefly, and BioWare’s role-playing games. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoys nature and coffee.

Find Megan on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

About GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

grounded_cover (3)Published by Scholastic/Arthur Levine Books, April 2015

You know about the tower, the hair, and the witch. But in the world of Tyme, they’re only the beginning . . .

Rapunzel knows only her magical tower and her wonderful Witch, who guards her against evil princes far below. But when a peasant named Jack climbs into her life, Rapunzel learns that Witch is in terrible danger — and to keep her safe, she must leave her tower and journey with Jack on a quest far across Tyme. There she finds a world filled with even more peril than Witch promised . . . and more beauty, wonder, and adventure than she ever dreamed.

GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL is the first book set in the land of Tyme — with many tales to come. It is available for purchase at Amazon, IndieBound, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, and Powell’s.

 

And now, the interview!

Continue reading An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL →