Mihi Ever After
Tae Keller
Holt, November, 2022
240 pages
Grades 3-6
Fairytale/Fantasy
When Mihi's best friend grows away from her, leaving Mihi behind and feeling like a baby, she is not sure where to turn. She finds herself in the library with two other misfits, Savannah and Reese. The friendly librarian leaves the new group alone and they fall through a portal (via the library's mini-fridge) and into a fairytale world. Mihi is so excited: being a princess is her wildest dream! An all-business lady-in-waiting takes the girls under her wing to begin training as real princesses! The excitement dies away as training quickly becomes tedious and boring. Worst of all, the girls are training separately and must compete for the one open princess slot. Will Mihi ever find her own story? An unexpected encounter brings Mihi face-to-face with Sleeping Beauty, of who's castle the girls are staying, and she gets some great advice, as she also shares her own with the soon to be sleeping princess. Is being a princess all its cracked up to be? Will the girls stay in this fairy tale land forever or find their way's back home? And where is that portal back to the regular world anyway?
Princess-loving adventurers will enjoy this new frothy fantasy, perfect for fans of "Whatever After" and "The Land of Stories" from Newbery winner, Keller. Mihi must find her inner courage and use her ingenuity to navigate this strange and sometimes dangerous world. The story is plot-heavy and favorite characters emerge in both expected and unexpected ways. Mihi and her pals are not particularly developed and I had a hard time keeping Savanna and Reese straight. Since this is Mihi's story, readers won't care that her two sidekicks are fuzzy. Mihi does learn a bit about the realities of royal life and comes to appreciate that "there's no place like home". Mihi as Korean-American is not a traditional princess and girls of Asian ancestry will appreciate seeing someone of a similar culture represented as a princess in a European fairytale setting. Comic-like illustrations, contributed by Geraldine Rodriguez, will help reluctant readers keep turning pages. These three young princesses-in-training aren't afraid to try to solve their own problems and jump into any situation. Their adventures will ignite the imaginations of fellow princess-loving readers, who will clamber for the next installment in what is looking to be a projected series.
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