HALF UPON A TIME
Book ID/图书代码： 07688010B41005
English Summary/英文概要： Life’s no fairy tale for Jack. After all, his father’s been missing ever since that incident with the beanstalk and the giant, and his grandfather keeps pushing him to get out and find a princess to rescue. Who’d want to rescue a snobby, entitled princess anyway? Especially one that falls out of the sky wearing a shirt that says "Punk Princess," and still denies she’s royalty. In fact, May doesn’t even believe in magic. Yeah, what’s that about? May does need help though--a huntsman is chasing her, her grandmother has been kidnapped, and Jack thinks it’s all because of the Wicked Queen . . . mostly because May’s grandmother might just be the long-lost Snow White. Jack and May’s thrillingly hilarious adventure combines all the classic stories—fractured as a broken magic mirror—into one epic novel for the ages.
Plot Summary
JACK, 14, lives a less than storybook life in his fairy-tale world. The son of a man who’s most notable accomplishment was stealing from a giant at the end of a beanstalk, Jack may have his father’s name, but he wants no part of the adventuring business. In fact, sometimes it feels like he’s the only one that sees the princess-rescuing, kingdom-winning, dragon-killing system as just a means to keep the peasants down.
Unfortunately, Jack finds he can’t quite escape the quest mentality, not when MAY, 14, a girl from our world, appears out of nowhere right in front of Jack. Believing May to be royalty because of her "Punk Princess" T-shirt (although he has no idea where Punk is), Jack finds himself reluctantly helping the "princess" rescue her kidnapped grandmother. Nothing’s ever that easy in Jack’s world, though; they soon learn that May’s grandmother may just be the long-lost SNOW WHITE, a rebel from the Great War. Snow White was rumored to have disappeared during a final fight with the WICKED QUEEN, conqueror of half the world and Snow White’s step-mother.
After fighting their way past the Wicked Queen’s HUNTSMAN, escaping from a witch’s candy house and diving out of a hungry giant’s mouth, a nearly digested Jack and May manage to find an ally in their quest: the big bad WOLF KING. Fortunately, PHILLIP, 15, the royal son of a very brave little tailor, also joins the group, though this prince seems more interested in May than her grandmother. For some reason, this irritates Jack to no end.
In order to locate May’s grandmother, the Wolf King leads Jack and company to the Wicked Queen’s omniscient Magic Mirror, now held by the RED HOOD. The Mirror breaks during the fight with the Hood, releasing the all-powerful GENIE inside it, so the group hunts down its creator, MALEVOLENT, an evil fairy queen, to fix it. Malevolent attacks them in the form of a black dragon, but the group prevails, and Jack forces Malevolent to restore the Magic Mirror. The Mirror reveals that May’s grandmother has been imprisoned in the Palace of the Snow Queen, which Malevolent sends them to, using her magic.
At the Palace, Jack finds and rescues May’s grandmother, only to discover that May’s grandmother is actually the Wicked Queen. The Wicked Queen escapes, though not before a devastated May destroys her Magic Mirror for good.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 于杰克而言，生活很艰辛。且不说他父亲因意外失踪，祖父还将其赶出家门，去解救什么公主。谁要救一个带着公主光环的势利鬼？尤其这还是一个穿着写了朋克公主字样衬衫的公主。何况她矢口否认自己的公主身份。她根本不相信魔法。可是，她的确需要帮助。有一个猎人正在追杀她。她的祖母也被绑架了。杰克认为这一切都是恶毒皇后的奸计。很有可能，公主的祖母就是失踪的白雪公主。经典与新颖的结合，适合各个年龄。 情节概览：
杰克今年14岁，过着逍遥的日子。他爸爸偷名在外，他不以为意，却对冒险那部分很有意向。甚至有时候，他感觉好像预见了自己救了公主，令全国俯首称臣。
不幸的是，杰克没法赶走这种臆念，而且越演愈重，突然，梅出现在他面前，正是需要解救的公主。杰克很不情愿帮她救祖母。救人行动十分不易。很快，他们发现，梅的祖母就是大名鼎鼎失踪的白雪公主。
打败恶毒皇后的狗腿子猎人，逃出糖果屋，他们又掉入了巨人的虎口。所幸，他们遇到了善良的裁缝之子，救了他们还一起结伴上路。可是，明显的这个人对梅更感兴趣，这让杰克很不爽。
为了解救梅的祖母，他们一行人来到了恶毒皇后的魔镜前。在争斗中，魔镜被打碎，封住的灵魂得到了解放。他们同时得知梅的祖母被关押在白雪皇后的宫殿。
最终，杰克发现并救出了梅的祖母，然后发现她才是那个恶毒的皇后。伤心欲绝的梅在坏皇后脱逃前将她的魔镜永久粉碎。(兼职翻译-XJJ)
Awards/获奖情况：书评
Bookinistas Blog：“《很久以前》（Half Upon A Time）是一个耐人寻味的童话故事，十分吸引人，故事曲折欢乐，充满冒险奇遇。”
About the Author/作者介绍：
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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