The fairy's return and other princess tales by Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN 9780061768989
(Ages 8-12) Recommended. Six retellings of fairy
stories by
the Newbery Honor award winning author of Ella Enchanted are
sure to
please all
those who enjoy fractured fairy tales. Ethelinda tries to reward the
good deeds of
one girl while punishing her sister, but her plans go terribly wrong in The fairy's mistake,
based on the fairy tale Toads and
Diamonds.
The
princess test is a hilarious take on The princess and the pea,
where
Lorelei is forced to prove that she is
good enough for the prince. Sleeping beauty will never be the
same once
readers
have been introduced to a princess who is a genius in Princess
Sonora
and the
long sleep. For Biddle's sake sees the green toothed
Parsley turn into
a toad
although she eventually wins the heart of a prince and all ends well.
In The
Fairy's return a baker's son and a princess fall in love. My
favourite
was
Cinderellis and the glass hill, where a farm boy rides
magnificent
magical
horses up a glass hill and manages to win the heart of a princess.
These stories are full of humour and the play on
words is
very entertaining. There are enough elements of the original stories to
sound
familiar but the new twists make them very enjoyable. This book would
be an
excellent choice to read aloud when doing a unit of work on Fairy tales
or
Fractured fairy tales or just to enjoy a good laugh.
Pat Pledger