Fairest of All

**Fairest of All** is the first book in the *Whatever After* series, written by Sarah Mlynowski. It was published on May 1 2012.

## Synopsis

Once upon a time, my brother and I were normal kids. The next minute? The mirror in our basement slurped us up and magically transported us inside Snow White's fairy tale.

I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

But hey — we're heroes! We stopped Snow White from eating the poisoned apple. Hooray! Or not. If Snow White doesn't die, she won't get to meet her prince. And then she won't get her happy ending. Oops.

Now it's up to us to:

* Avoid getting poisoned
* Sneak into a castle
* Fix Snow White's story
* And then, fingers crossed, find our way home

## Storyline

Abby's family has just recently moved to Smithville from Naperville. Abby was having a hard time adjusting to her new school because the kids there call pop soda, mash their bananas and peanut butter into a big gooey mess on their sandwiches, and play freeze tag very “wrongly”, instead of the way she did in Naperville. Frustrated with these new changes, Abby goes to the library to calm down where she expresses her love for fairytales.

That night Abby is awoken by Jonah who states the mirror in their basement is glowing and hissing. Confused, Abby follows Jonah to the basement where Jonah's observations were proven true. The mirror sucks the two siblings in, plunging them into a mysterious forest. Looking for answers to where they are, Abby and Jonah find an old lady selling apples. They follow the grumpy old lady to a cottage in the middle of the woods where she offered an apple to a teenager who lives there. The teenager looked very familiar to Abby. Then Abby realized it was Snow White! Abby and Jonah stopped Snow White from eating the poison apple without realizing the consequences: if Snow White doesn't eat the apple, she won't fall asleep, her true love won't come, and she will never get her happily ever after! Even after Abby and Jonah ruined Snow's fairytale, she and the dwarves still welcomed them into the cottage until they found their way home.

Abby and Jonah are determined to give Snow her happily ever after. Eventually, they come up with a plan. If Snow White pretends to be poisoned, the prince (who will ride by in a few days) will fall in love with her anyway, so the dwarves construct a box for Snow to lie down in while she waits for her prince to come. But Snow gets shy at the last moment and hides, and the prince doesn't see her. In chances of fixing the matter, the three go to the castle to stop Evil Evelyn with the help of Gabrielle, her magic mirror. When they succeed, Gabrielle sends them home.

## Ratings

*"*A magic mirror, a slightly bossy sister and her inquisitive 7-year-old brother captivate in this rollicking remake of a classic fairy tale...The result is an uproariously funny read. The swift pace of the tale and non-stop action combined with Abby’s quick wit will enchant readers from the first page.*" —*Kirkus Reviews

4.5/5 on Barnes & Noble

"This delightful kickoff to the *Whatever After* series demonstrates Mlynowski’s prowess at writing for middle-graders...cleverly tangled and quite funny." —Publishers Weekly

"Sarah Mlynowski's spunky heroine injects some girl-power into Snow White for a wonderful reading adventure the whole family will enjoy. Tons of fractured fairy tale fun!" —Meg Cabot, author of *Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls* and *the Princess Diaries*

"I tore through *Fairest of All* in one sitting and loved, loved, loved it! It’s inventive, hilarious, and full of adventure and surprises." —Leslie Margolis, author of *the Maggie Brooklyn Mysteries*

"Giddy, fizzy, hilarious fun!" —Lauren Myracle, author of *Luv Ya Bunches*

## Characters, Places, and Things

featured in *Fairest of All*:

* Abby
* Jonah
* Snow White
* Prince Trevor
* Penny
* The Seven Dwarfs
* Evil Evelyn
* Gabrielle
* Gamel
* Zamel