How to Wake Sleeping Beauty
Picture Book Children's Adventure Bedtime Story Fantasy Fairy Tale Vintage Children's Literature Interactive Fiction Choose Your Own Adventure
How to Wake Sleeping Beauty (Piccolo, 1984) is the rare vintage picture-book that lets the reader become the hero of the fairy-tale. Each glossy, full-page spread ends with a gentle “What happens next?” choice—take the left-hand path and meet a musical elf, turn to the right and rouse a snoring dragon—so bedtime becomes a fresh adventure every night. Kevin Scally’s warm, painterly illustrations glow with 1980s colour palettes, making the book as much a keepsake for adult collectors as it is a first “choose-your-own” for ages 2-8.
Parents searching for an interactive read-aloud love that the text is short enough for toddlers, yet the branching storylines keep older siblings engaged through dozens of re-reads. Because every decision leads to a different ending, reluctant readers gain confidence steering the plot, while nostalgic adults remember the thrill of the original “pick-a-path” paperbacks—now re-imagined in a child-safe hardcover format.
This 1984 first printing is increasingly hard to find in collectible condition: the laminated boards show only light shelf scuffs, the pages are clean and unmarked, and the binding remains square and tight after almost forty years. No inscriptions, ex-libris stamps, or dog-eared corners means the book displays beautifully on a shelf of vintage fairy-tale art or can be gifted as a sturdy, story-time workhorse. For lovers of classic fantasy, bedtime nostalgia, or early interactive fiction, How to Wake Sleeping Beauty delivers a magical bridge between picture-book simplicity and reader-powered adventure.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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