The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

By: Christopher Healy, Todd Harris

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it's up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Debut author Christopher Healy takes us on a journey with four imperfect princes and their four improbable princesses, all of whom are trying to become perfect heroes - a fast-paced, funny, and fresh introduction to a world where everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems.

©2012 Christopher Healy (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Delightful romp elevated by excellent narration

"The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom" is a funny, light-hearted middle-grade story that delights in twisting the fairy tales it draws on. The characters are interesting and easy to enjoy, and the plot, though slightly meandering, comes together well (though readers should be warned that the last chapter is open-ended enough to allow for sequels).

What might just be a very fun and unapologetically silly children's story, however, has been enhanced by very good narration. Bronson Pinchot has developed distinct and appropriate voices for each character and the narrator, and his characterizations add depth to the characters.

stellar performance

Bronson knocks a cute story it out of the park. He's the reason I bought the production.

Stop reading go Listen!

Seriously why are you still here reading this. Buy this book listen and enjoy. The story structure is fantastic and in brings together fantasy and a heavy dose of reality and realistic approach to the stories. So stop reading go Listen!

Worthy addition to the fractured fairy tale genre

What did you love best about The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom?

I got this book after meeting the author and doing a brief workshop with him at a Barnes and Noble. His ideas were so fresh and funny, I knew I had to get the book, and I love it. He takes the familiar stories and twists them in just the right way, so we get hilarious adventure while avoiding the "easy jokes" everyone makes about these stories. A great mix of depictions of masculinity and femininity and a wide range of cultures make this a book everyone can relate to and feel accepted in.

What about Bronson Pinchot’s performance did you like?

Bronson Pinchot's remarkable range of voices and variety of performances make this a particular delight.

Perfection

The book itself is wonderful, but the narrator is in a whole other league. He impersonated every single character in the story with an individual voice that was recognizable through out the ENTIRE story, which is saying something due to the large amount of people in the story. He is a master in his job and should get whatever is the highest award for voice acting/reading a story. My family and I listen and enjoy this story whenever we go on a road trip because he's the one reading it.

Loved the idea

I really like the idea for this fairy tale retelling. The narrator was enjoyable, but I found some of the character voices a bit odd. Snow White and Duncan were hard for me to listen to. Other than that, I think this was great.

Amazing narration

This series is fun, whisical and the voices the narrator brings to all the charcters are amazing in their variety.

Thoroughly enjoyed by, son and I

5yr old son and I looked forward to getting in the car as we knew we'd be listening to this wonderful fairy tale mashed up. Bronson's delivery accentuated the playfully clever story with wicked funniness.

Loved it!!!

Absolutely love a reader that performs the actual characters of the book. It gives it a movie feel without having the visual.

Great performance by Bronson Pinchot.

Planning on listening to more of Healy's novels because of him.

Engaging story, Amazing narration.

My eleven year old and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It was engaging and entertaining. Bronson Pinchot’s narration was perfect. The voices and accents were spot on.