I liked that little known animals were shown as belonging to the mammal group.  There are also well-known mammals.  I liked how where they lived was given along with what they ate.  Then facts were given that maybe I knew but mostly were new to me.  I appreciated when I was told when an animal was extinct in the wild but still alive due to protected areas/captivity.  While I am not happy about the captivity, I am glad the animal (I'll let you learn which one it is) is not totally extinct.  I learned a whole lot about these mammals and in a delightful way.  Perfect for your 4-8 year old.

This was amazing. It was funny, as expected, but also sad. I love how Felicia grew up "weird"; I feel like we all grow up in varying degrees of weird. It's what makes us who we are. It was fascinating hearing, in her own words, in her own voice, her childhood, her initial trip into the interwebs, her gaming obsession. It was sad to hear about her descent into depression, and the decline of not only her mental health but her physical heath. Her slow journey back to to good form was heartening. Creating her webshow and learning all it entailed was surprising and it made me so happy that she never gave up and ended up with own company. Sometimes I forget she was behind Geek & Sundry. We're not even going to talk about internet trolls and especially not gamer gate. This look into Felicia's life, a person who's content, I have greately enjoyed over the years was super fun and I think I got misty-eyed a time or two. I have the paperback and the audiobook and I find listing to the audio by the author always makes the read/listen that much better. This did not disappoint.

Do I dare call this full of symbolism, and therefore feel the need to scratch under the surface of these tales? Then again, is there any fairy tale worth it's salt that is not so.

Lets start saying that the way this is written is incredibly sensual. I was surprised because I was sure the first tale (The Bloddy Chamber), would turn up into a hardcore purple prose BDSM. It does not become explicit, but the erotic charge and the tug of war between desire for freedom and sexual or base hungers, innocence and a curiousity for corruption, is heavy and all encompassing on that one and several others in this collection (The Tiger's Bride, The Erl-king).

Puss in Boots was hilarious in all it's terribleness. Not one character in it can be called good, our narrator least of all, and yet. Lots of laughing OMG, no!

The Snow Child was... How do you pack it that fast? It takes infinitely more to unpack.

All of them are incredibly evocative. Also disturbing. Oh, and they screw with your mind with the POVs and tenses too.

I'm a still quite discombobulated by much of this, and I'm pretty certain I don't get even most  of what this is conveying, but frankly, at some point I started researching some fairy-tale stuff for background, and found out there are whole freaking books essaying on the meanings of this collection, so I reckon I'm good enough just keeping it floating on the back-burners of my mind.