Long Live the Pumpkin Queen
Shea Earnshaw
Amazon Summary:
Jack and Sally are "truly meant to be" ... or are they? Sally Skellington is the official, newly-minted Pumpkin Queen after a whirlwind courtship with her true love, Jack, who Sally adores with every inch of her fabric seams -- if only she could say the same for her new role as Queen of Halloween Town. Cast into the spotlight and tasked with all sorts of queenly duties, Sally can't help but wonder if all she's done is trade her captivity under Dr. FInkelstein for a different -- albeit gilded -- cage. But when Sally and Zero accidentally uncover a long-hidden doorway to an ancient realm called Dream Town in the forest Hinterlands, she'll unknowingly set into motion a chain of sinister events that put her future as Pumpkin Queen, and the future of Halloween Town itself, into jeopardy. Can Sally discover what it means to be true to herself and save the town she's learned to call home, or will her future turn into her worst... well, nightmare?
My Review:
8/10
Let me put this out there that I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas right before reading this, for the first time. That was helpful because all the characters were fresh in my mind. Now this book focuses mainly on Sally Skellington, the rag doll, now Pumpkin Queen of Halloween Town. She quite doesn’t feel at home in her new role as Pumpkin Queen. In the book Sally doesn’t really talk, and is super quiet, just floating around almost, until the end. This is Sally’s book, and in my opinion, she rightfully deserves this.
Sally goes on a harrowing journey of self-discovery. Sally makes mistakes along the way, which does land her in a tough spot, but she learns from them. Sally has to make sacrifices for love, family and the biggest, the fate of the world. You not only read about the events after the movie, but also about who Sally really is and where she comes from. All this makes Sally’s journey a truly remarkable one. This book was jam packed with action and plot-twists that made the book impossible to put down.
If you read this book, keep an eye out for an “angry and sad jar.” I figured, hey why don’t I try that, and miraculously, it worked. So this book taught me an actual skill that helps with how to solve problems in a healthy way.
The only thing I would have liked to see was maybe giving Sally a sidekick the whole story, or at least a companion for her journey. Yes she has Jack’s dog, but he stays behind to protect Jack while Sally goes on her journey. So it was just her most of the time.
OVERALL:
I really loved reading more about the newly appointed Pumpkin Queen and learning her story, making me really get to know her. This book has just been published and is everywhere books are sold.