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Disney - Jasmine's Quest for the Stardust Sapphire
Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Genie from Disney Aladdin go on an unforgettable adventure in this middle grade novel. Read it before the live-action Aladdin hits theaters in spring 2019!
Since defeating Jafar, Jasmine and Aladdin have been peacefully learning how to rule a kingdom. But everything's about to change when a powerful curse threatens the land. Thankfully, the Genie is around to help! Kids ages 8 to 12 will love this new tale, which continues the story of Disney Aladdin.
Disney Aladdin is an animated classic featuring beloved characters, an award-winning soundtrack, and a timeless tale of love and adventure.
Since defeating Jafar, Jasmine and Aladdin have been peacefully learning how to rule a kingdom. But everything's about to change when a powerful curse threatens the land. Thankfully, the Genie is around to help! Kids ages 8 to 12 will love this new tale, which continues the story of Disney Aladdin.
Disney Aladdin is an animated classic featuring beloved characters, an award-winning soundtrack, and a timeless tale of love and adventure.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2019
62 people want to read
About the author
Kathy McCullough
20 books115 followersI'm a novelist and screenwriter living in L.A., author of Don't Expect Magic and its sequel Who Needs Magic?
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 20, 2021
This is a fun middle grade adventure with my favorite people! This reminded me of the television show and now I want to watch it. This ties in more after the live action Aladdin but you don't have to have seen it to enjoy this.
January 2, 2022
Jasmine's Quest for the Stardust Sapphire is a wonderfully adorable novel written by Kathy McCullough. The story focuses on Jasmine as she attempts to better learn what it means to be a future leader, the sort of sacrifices that come with that responsibility, and also how to deal with self-doubt in the face of growing responsibility.
Severe sandstorms and other wild weather phenomena have been wreaking havoc on kingdom of Agrabah due to a curse that had been held back for a thousand years. The legends claims that once upon a time, a magical sapphire used to control the harsh weather of Agrabah, but the sapphire was broken into pieces due to a conflict between the humans and the gulin--mischievous, magical beings that could shape-shift into whatever creature they wished and held a lust for shiny objects.
Once the sapphire was broken, the weather across the kingdom began to turn fierce and destructive. The Sand God who had gifted the kingdom the sapphire, in an attempt to help the people of Agrabah, used his magic to hold off the curse of the broken sapphire and implemented four trials to test the humans and gulin so they may save the kingdom from destruction. The Sand God gave them a thousand years to find the scattered pieces of the sapphire and solve the challenges that each trial would present, but as time past the legend was lost to time and forgotten until the thousand-year deadline hit. Jasmine now must travel the kingdom to find the pieces and save her home.
The book is easy to read as McCullough has a delightful and airy way of writing, but I feel as though the story she wanted to tell was much grander for the scale of the book she was actually writing for. Nothing major that has real consequences ever really lingers in the story for long, and I was often left wondering why everything was solved with such easy convenience and luck.
One character loses their special gift? Oh, well another character with another special gift that will happen to help them in this specific moment will come along in the story and help out. They lose their gift? The next one will happen to come along. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Jasmine laments these sacrifices and questions her ability to lead, but there is never a moment where I feel like her leadership and these sacrifices ever really correlated to each other. It is never an order she gives that causes these things to happen, but rather the circumstances of the situation that cause a character to lose their power or something breaks at the wrong time.
A lot of characters come and go through the story, and it makes me wish they hadn't even bothered considering their role was so minimal and pointless in the grand scheme.
There is also a character that is introduced that I really liked named Bedair, but then promptly gets sidelined by his sister Layli who serves as his mouthpiece for a good portion of the story. I liked her, and she clearly has motivation for what she is doing, but again the book is too small to really give enough time to develop these characters properly.
And I'm also avoiding the elephant in the room: Aladdin. Clearly this is "Jasmine's Quest", but Aladdin tags along and feels more like a wasted character than anything else. He's a himbo in the original film, in the live-action film, and in the animated series. He's also very clever and crafty.
The book leans more into his himbo nature as he is really only there to serve as Jasmine's cheerleader and rock when she needs encouragement. I love it, but I hate it. I dislike that Aladdin--a crafty thief know for his creative solutions to impossible situations and wild luck--is left being a useless tag-along. I also don't quite like how the book doesn't give us any sense of his and Jasmine's romantic relationship beyond the knowledge that they are a couple.
I wouldn't want Aladdin to take away from Jasmine's time to shine, but I think perhaps McCullough needed to either give him a bit more to do or not even bother to have him go on this journey at all.
The novel also confused me due to the characterization of the sultan. He feels like his movie-counterpart, but then the cover of the book implies this is based on the animated film cast. Also, Genie's depiction is very clearly the animated one. This is more of a personal issue I had because I had to keep shifting the way these characters looked, sounded, and acted in my head depending on the scene and I usually like having a clear idea of the characters I'm imagining when I read a book. I'm sure this was an intentional choice as to allow readers to pick and choose the elements they liked from both films, but still. I like consistency.
Despite these issues, I had a great time reading this book. I enjoyed that it was a fresh and unique tale, and I can easily see young kids enjoying this book.
Severe sandstorms and other wild weather phenomena have been wreaking havoc on kingdom of Agrabah due to a curse that had been held back for a thousand years. The legends claims that once upon a time, a magical sapphire used to control the harsh weather of Agrabah, but the sapphire was broken into pieces due to a conflict between the humans and the gulin--mischievous, magical beings that could shape-shift into whatever creature they wished and held a lust for shiny objects.
Once the sapphire was broken, the weather across the kingdom began to turn fierce and destructive. The Sand God who had gifted the kingdom the sapphire, in an attempt to help the people of Agrabah, used his magic to hold off the curse of the broken sapphire and implemented four trials to test the humans and gulin so they may save the kingdom from destruction. The Sand God gave them a thousand years to find the scattered pieces of the sapphire and solve the challenges that each trial would present, but as time past the legend was lost to time and forgotten until the thousand-year deadline hit. Jasmine now must travel the kingdom to find the pieces and save her home.
The book is easy to read as McCullough has a delightful and airy way of writing, but I feel as though the story she wanted to tell was much grander for the scale of the book she was actually writing for. Nothing major that has real consequences ever really lingers in the story for long, and I was often left wondering why everything was solved with such easy convenience and luck.
One character loses their special gift? Oh, well another character with another special gift that will happen to help them in this specific moment will come along in the story and help out. They lose their gift? The next one will happen to come along. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Jasmine laments these sacrifices and questions her ability to lead, but there is never a moment where I feel like her leadership and these sacrifices ever really correlated to each other. It is never an order she gives that causes these things to happen, but rather the circumstances of the situation that cause a character to lose their power or something breaks at the wrong time.
A lot of characters come and go through the story, and it makes me wish they hadn't even bothered considering their role was so minimal and pointless in the grand scheme.
There is also a character that is introduced that I really liked named Bedair, but then promptly gets sidelined by his sister Layli who serves as his mouthpiece for a good portion of the story. I liked her, and she clearly has motivation for what she is doing, but again the book is too small to really give enough time to develop these characters properly.
And I'm also avoiding the elephant in the room: Aladdin. Clearly this is "Jasmine's Quest", but Aladdin tags along and feels more like a wasted character than anything else. He's a himbo in the original film, in the live-action film, and in the animated series. He's also very clever and crafty.
The book leans more into his himbo nature as he is really only there to serve as Jasmine's cheerleader and rock when she needs encouragement. I love it, but I hate it. I dislike that Aladdin--a crafty thief know for his creative solutions to impossible situations and wild luck--is left being a useless tag-along. I also don't quite like how the book doesn't give us any sense of his and Jasmine's romantic relationship beyond the knowledge that they are a couple.
I wouldn't want Aladdin to take away from Jasmine's time to shine, but I think perhaps McCullough needed to either give him a bit more to do or not even bother to have him go on this journey at all.
The novel also confused me due to the characterization of the sultan. He feels like his movie-counterpart, but then the cover of the book implies this is based on the animated film cast. Also, Genie's depiction is very clearly the animated one. This is more of a personal issue I had because I had to keep shifting the way these characters looked, sounded, and acted in my head depending on the scene and I usually like having a clear idea of the characters I'm imagining when I read a book. I'm sure this was an intentional choice as to allow readers to pick and choose the elements they liked from both films, but still. I like consistency.
Despite these issues, I had a great time reading this book. I enjoyed that it was a fresh and unique tale, and I can easily see young kids enjoying this book.
May 16, 2019
I love the book, but I gave it a 4 stars because it doesn’t go accordingly to the other two films of the movie. Yago is not there and after the second movie he was already one of the group. I missed him 😂
March 2, 2020
The story/plot was good but it was marred by poor writing. However, Aladdin and Jasmine are two of my favorite Disney characters and I had to read this book. Definitely more for younger readers but not bad.
May 21, 2019
Another winner by Kathy McCullough. She proceeds with a story already told - and puts a great spin on it. The female is the hero. This is a fun ride.
September 18, 2019
this is written so well an adult will enjoy it. fast passed and full of adventure.
January 31, 2024
For my sixth and most unexpected wish, I found an Aladdin book that I didn’t even know existed! “Jasmine’s Quest for the Stardust Sapphire” is a sequel adventure by @kathymcculloughbooks, the second book in her unnamed middle-school series about the Disney Princesses. This two-book series seems to correspond with the release of the live-action films, but no other books have been made since.
"Jasmine's Quest" picks up sometime after Jafar’s attempted uprising, just as catastrophic weather anomalies are sweeping across the desert. Agrabah has been plagued with sand storms so horrendous, no one can safely step outside. In an effort to find answers, Jasmine is told of an old nursery rhyme that foretold the disasters and their connections to a mysterious stardust sapphire. Now, it’s up to Jasmine and her friends to restore the sapphire to save Agrabah and its neighboring cities from ruin.
—
I was unbelievably excited to jump into this book, especially after just discovering it the week prior. While it’s an entertaining adventure novel, with the gang running from place to place to find all the shards, the characters feel pretty hollow to me. Specifically, Aladdin is reserved to a comic relief with not much else to add than a tension breaker from time to time. I know the book is for a middle school audience, but I wished the characters had been more authentic.
Interestingly enough, of the six books this month, this is the first one that has had the Genie as a character! While some of the other books mention him by name, he never actually shows up. The Genie is fun and well-written, reminding me of the late Robin Williams.
The added lore of the Gulin creatures is interesting, but I found their descriptions a bit lacking to be able to picture their true forms. It sounds like a silly gripe, but it made the reading experience slightly more difficult.
As I say often, I think with the opportunity for a longer book, the story could excel more. As it stands, it’s probably my least favorite of the group, just for the lackluster characterizations. Regardless, I’m still looking forward to Belle’s tale!
"Jasmine's Quest" picks up sometime after Jafar’s attempted uprising, just as catastrophic weather anomalies are sweeping across the desert. Agrabah has been plagued with sand storms so horrendous, no one can safely step outside. In an effort to find answers, Jasmine is told of an old nursery rhyme that foretold the disasters and their connections to a mysterious stardust sapphire. Now, it’s up to Jasmine and her friends to restore the sapphire to save Agrabah and its neighboring cities from ruin.
—
I was unbelievably excited to jump into this book, especially after just discovering it the week prior. While it’s an entertaining adventure novel, with the gang running from place to place to find all the shards, the characters feel pretty hollow to me. Specifically, Aladdin is reserved to a comic relief with not much else to add than a tension breaker from time to time. I know the book is for a middle school audience, but I wished the characters had been more authentic.
Interestingly enough, of the six books this month, this is the first one that has had the Genie as a character! While some of the other books mention him by name, he never actually shows up. The Genie is fun and well-written, reminding me of the late Robin Williams.
The added lore of the Gulin creatures is interesting, but I found their descriptions a bit lacking to be able to picture their true forms. It sounds like a silly gripe, but it made the reading experience slightly more difficult.
As I say often, I think with the opportunity for a longer book, the story could excel more. As it stands, it’s probably my least favorite of the group, just for the lackluster characterizations. Regardless, I’m still looking forward to Belle’s tale!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews