The Christmas Princess (2024)

This book might be only 40-odd pages, but I couldn't wait to be done with it. Absolutely dreadful!

I was excited to see this at the library and didn't even read the synopsis. Loved the author's note and lush illustrations. However, it took only the first page to turn me off. I couldn't get into the story at all, which is saying quite a lot since this is a children's book.

The rhymes are so forced, the writing is clunky and the plot is all over the place. One minute she's here, the next minute she's there, and random characters appear suddenly.

I think this might be the worst picture book I've ever read. How can a kid's book be such a huge miss? It's such a shame as the illustrations are gorgeous. 1 star for the artist...

This was a cute Christmas fairytale with gorgeous illustrations.

It's told in third person as if Mariah is telling you a bedtime story. So the plot is very much like that; winding and whimsical.

This book is terrible! The grammar is terrible with multiple sentences that do not agree. Some of the sentences start and meander away leaving you to wonder what just happened. I think there was one paragraph that scanned well as you read it aloud.

There's characters that are introduced and then disappear. Then new bad characters are introduced and they nonsensically are turned good. The characterization is lazy and stereotypes are overused. The children this story is supposed to be aimed at with not understand what's happening.

And they write that "Mariah's little song sucks." Last time I checked this wasn't an okay term to put in a book aimed at preschool children.

Henry Holt should be ashamed of themselves for putting out this unedited dreck!

I have never written a review for any of the probably thousands of books I have read my daughter. This is the dumbest book ever. It’s like they googled “large words” and found a way to squeeze them in. There was no plot, random pointless events happened, and it’s like they couldn’t figure out if they wanted to rhyme or not. Horrible boo. Negative stars.

Literally the worst book I have ever read. Literally. I feel worse about wasting money on this than I do about wasting money on food that is rotten. What befuddles me is how there are any positive reviews—it was that bad. Treat this book the way you’d treat a rabid skunk on the porch. Give a wide berth.

A feel-good fairy tale by the queen of Christmas, how could you not love this book?
Also, the illustrations were amazing! Kudos to the illustrator!

Oh Mariah! An enchanting children’s story that often veers into enchantment and too many tangents - true to Mariah’s artistic and personal signature. Quite impressive to see how she truly did manifest and materialize Christmas joy, when read with the knowledge of her story from her memoir though!

The worst!! I knew better when I bought this, but was drawn to the illustrations. The illustrations were the only good thing in this book! It made no sense. The rhyming was terrible. Some lines super long some sort. The grammar was off. Also, the mom who doesn’t talk only sings but looks like the mom from tangled? And randomly she disappeared and there’s more bad characters? But suddenly they’re nice because she sings? What?? I’m so confused. I can’t believe that this got published.

No. just no. Tried to much, the writing was terrible. I was excited as Mariah Carey is a Christmas princess with her singing, but no to this book.

Wow. This was just bad. The only redeeming quality of this book is the gorgeous illustrations. The title and cover were so adorable, I bought it without noticing who the author was. As I read it to my kids, I kept cringing at the whiny, entitled, self-absorbed narration, not to mention that the author couldn't seem to settle on a plot, so it kept going off in random directions without finishing the previous plotlines. I kept thinking, who wrote this trash? When I checked the cover again, it all made sense. Diva extraordinaire herself, who, like her story character, appears shallow, whiny, and completely disconnected from reality but has a lovely voice. The illustrator and co-writer did their best to make this story palatable, but it's gilded garbage.

And can we just talk for a minute about the line where Little Mariah says that her attic room is so sad and tiny so thank goodness she's "pretty thin"??? I'd not let any child near this book for that line alone. Hello, body issues. I don't think I've ever been disgusted by a book enough to want my money back, but that's where I'm at--mortified that my dollars went to support.

My 9-year-old “All I Want for Christmas is You” mega fan asked me to stop reading this book three pages in, because it made no sense and wasn’t at all engaging. The illustrations are kind of cute, but I can’t give more than two stars to this story.

I don’t write many reviews on goodreads. But after reading this to my daughter, who loves Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, the song and the Netflix movie, I was compelled to come here and hopefully save someone else the 15 minutes of misery that I just endured. This is the clunkiest, most disjointed children’s book I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading. It is more of a fever dream of a very troubled youth than an uplifting Christmas tale. The rhyming is both forced and sporadic, Mariah should invest some of her royalties into a rhyming dictionary, and perhaps spend an hour or two researching what a meter is. I have never rushed through a book so fast just so I could be done.

I will say the illustrations are nice.

Oh how I missed reading fairy tales! Especially Christmas themed ones 🥰

I love Mariah. This story could have been a bit better on format: some of the “stuff” was not needed.

A whimsical little Christmas fairytale gift for my niece that I had to read for myself first (bc duh)🎄

Literally the worst children’s book I have ever read. It made no sense, was overly detailed, and then started rhyming at the end???

1 ⭐️, but gotta appreciate the wonderful illustrations - they did nothing wrong

Terrible. Just terrible. I should have read the reviews before buying this. One star for the illustrations which were the only good thing about this book.

"The Christmas Princess" has beautiful illustrations, but the story could be pared down by a couple pages. It's just a bit too long and doesn't do enough to maintain the interest of the reader.

The front cover is absolutely beautiful, which is what made me pick the book up. All the illustrations were well done.

Sadly the story felt so forced and was almost complete non-sense plot wise (Not to mention how wordy it all looked, not a fun read when you have to force yourself to go on). I could see that it was trying to whimsical and fun but it absolutely made no sense. Lil' Mariah's problems all seemed so fake, like the author was over-thinking or trying to hard. There were too many places, too many (strange) antagonists. There was no real conclusion to all the problems Mariah goes through either. Yes, yes, Mariah believed in herself with the help of fairies and its Christmas. But that doesn't stop people from being mean to you or teach you how to deal with your feelings, or getting help. This book could have been way shorter AND more enjoyable if it could have focused on ONE conflict, that gets resolved in a more meaningful.

I'm not saying all books have to teach a less0n, some can be just cute stories, but it FELT like the story was trying to make a point... but that point was never confirmed or found and devolved into more whimsical non-sense. Not even the kids I read it to enjoyed it, the ones that could still that long anyway. They were confused or felt that things didn't really end well. Like one kid pointed out, the Mean Magic Hair Bullies, are they her friends now? Why? Will they go back to being mean after Christmas? Nothing was solved or changed and the children could tell.

След като преди няколко години от изд. „Сиела“ ни поднесоха адаптация на коледната класика „Сам вкъщи“ под формата на красива картинна книга, сега идва ред на друг поп-културен феномен, превърнал се в неизменна част от празниците за милиони почитатели. Това е „Коледната принцеса“ – римувано празнично приключение, сътворено от певицата Марая Кери, писателката Микаела Анджела Дейвис и илюстраторът Фууджи Такаши. „Специално за Коледа Марая Кери, наричана с любов Кралицата на Коледа, написа тази стопляща сърцата съвременна вълшебна приказка, в която главна героиня е малката Марая. Също като обичания по целия свят хит All I Want for Christmas Is You, тази история в рими е напът да се превърне в коледна класика.“ – обещават от издателството. А адаптацията на римите на български език е дело на поетесата Мария Донева – един от малкото преводачи, извоювали си заслуженото право името им да блести на корицата заедно с това на създателите на книгата, както се полага на пълноправен съавтор. Прочетете ревюто на „Книжни Криле“: https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/202...

This book is GORGEOUS. The illustrator did a fantastic job. The book itself is very poorly written. The writers attempted rhyme in a very erratic pattern and it was obvious to me as I was reading aloud. Some rhyme patterns were ABAC, some were ABCB, and others were AABC. It also led to weird word choices to make the rhymes happen. The character names of “La Diva” for mom and then continually giving us the extra context that Pavarotti was “Mike the Bird” was just odd. The use of language like “loser” and “stupid” had me verbally editing while reading to my 4 year old who absolutely LOVES Mariah and the Prime video movie “All I Want for Christmas is You.” Finally, the plot was all over the place. We went from poverty to mean neighbors to random bullies in the forest, enchanted elements, to singing. It was just a mess. I would expect so much more from a book written by a creative director and pop superstar, especially since it was published by Macmillan! What makes me sad is I’m in an aspiring children’s book authors’ group and there’s so much talent being suppressed and denied by publishers yet celebrities can put this out and still make millions. Skip this book.

Quand j'ai vu passer cette album sur instagram, j'avoie que je l'ai trouvé très beau ce qu’il est. Il est sublime. Sauf que voilà, l’histoire est bien mené mais il y a quand même des petit* défauts.

La petite Mariah vit seule avec sa maman et un oiseau dans une bicoque. La seule période où tout semble parfait est le moment de Noël jusqu’au jour où la petit Mariah se fait malmener par les enfants des voisins.

Je n’ai rien à dire sur les dessins qui sont magnifique et qui dégage vraiment quelques choses. Par contre, c’est l’histoire qui ne m’a pas conquise …

La petite Mariah est une petite fille qui vit dans une petite maison insalubre. Sa mère chante tout comme l’oiseau qui l’accompagne qui lui chante très mal.
Alors que Noël est là, sa maman et elle nettoient leur petite maison. Mais quand elle se retrouve seule le soir du 24 décembre, elle prend la fuite à cause des enfants qui viennent la harceler chez elle. Elle va découvrir un monde magique grâce à ses chansons qu’elle chante. Alors qu’elle arrive à son but, elle est encore dérangée par des enfants. Puis, les péripéties prennent une tournure bien étrange entouré de magie.
Je crois qu’on m’a perdu au moment où les enfants la maltraitent et qu’un monde enchanté s’ouvre à cette petite Mariah. Puis la fin est bien trop facile. Il n’y a pas vraiment de réelle intention ou un message. Donc, heureusem*nt que les dessins sont-là pour rattraper l’histoire.

La petite Mariah a été une lecture en demi-teinte. Le dessin est magnifique mais l’histoire ne tient pas la route …

"The Christmas Princess" is a book that every child needs to read. Actually everyone needs to read this regardless of age, race or gender because it covers so many important topics in a brilliant way that is also perfect for Kids. This is a story that beautifully covers so many life lessons and beliefs that we all want to teach our children. This is truly a inspiration and educational read while still being fun and festive. The whole family will love this book and it's something to be passed down for generations.

Esto no se puede describir con palabras, hay que vivirlo. Me alegro muchísimo de que Mariah me haya dado justo lo que es ella y elevado al máximo. Un cuento infantil cuya única razón de ser es que ELLA sea la hiper protagonista, la diosa, la figura divina, y la salvadora del mundo (y de los maric*s especialmente). Una historia para mostrarte que empezó siendo una niña pobre y acabó siendo una estrella podrida de dinero. Le encanta. Y yo disfruto con este personaje desatado. Maravilla. Con to su c*ño.

If I could give this book a 5 star rating for the illustrations, I absolutely would. The pictures were beautiful and I found them captivating, more telling of the story then the actual words.

This book is a mess! They could not decide if they wanted to rhyme or not. The way they described every inch of the house, with multiple adjectives was painful. I found myself starting a page and getting lost or frankly just wanting it to end. The book is way too long, especially for a young reader and it was all over the place with ideas. I am surprised that it was published in all honesty.

This book has beautiful illustrations and that’s as far as it goes. My daughter got this for Christmas and it’s so awful. It’s written terribly with no flow and uses phrases like “you suck” and “little loser” “shamey shame”also says “thank goodness Mariah was thin” which I’m shocked someone like Mariah carey would write in a book considering how her body has been scrutinized in the media. Definitely not worth the read and will be promptly burning it.

The illustrations are good but I feel like this book tries to hard to be a children's book and be entertaining.

The biggest mistake of this book is that it's written in the third person. This should of been written in the first person so kids can be able to connect with little Mariah. The whole time I felt like somebody else was telling me about her story then the little girl herself.

This book is beautifully illustrated but the story itself is just strange. It is supposed to be about self worth and a positive message but it just comes across as someone telling their bad childhood memories in a weird way. Absolutely not tied to Christmas itself at all.

**Bully character language is too harsh and I had to skip over it for my 7 year old.

The 2 stars are for the illustrations.

I have tried to give this story a review but I can’t. I just don’t have the words and I do not wish to be unkind. Why the editors at Henry Holt ok’d this text is beyond me. They should have done a better job of editing the manuscript before publication. This book saddened and maddened me. SMH.