The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales

There was a time where trying to get my middle daughter to read was like trying to herd cats. Then she brought this book home from the school library. I didn't have to nag her once to finish it, she poured through it from cover to cover. She liked it because it was funny and captured her interest. Well, I was sold. I bought this book and Volume II and it was the beginning of the turn around. They helped to inspire the love of reading I was hoping for with my daughter, and now she willingly reads a wider variety of books.

My daughter begged for this for her birthday. She read it 5x from the library, and was thrilled to have her own copy. It has several fun stories from the author of Ella Enchanted (which she didn't like as much). She is an excellent reader (started reading Harry Potter soon after), and was able to read it at age 8, although it is intended for older girls.

Our ten year old daughter received this book for Christmas and completed reading it in one day. She couldn't put it down! She loved the whimsical tales and is now reading Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, also by Gail Carson Levine. This book was chosen by a group of 9 and 10 year olds in her book club! Young girls seem to just love Levine's style of writing!

I love the way Gail Carson Levine has all of her chapters written in each different Princess story. The Fairy's Mistake, The Princess Test, and Princess Sonora and The Long Sleep are three different retellings of Cinderella/or Ella Enchanted, The Princess and The Pea and of course...Sleeping Beauty.Maybe someday, another one of Gail Carson Levine's books besides Ella Enchanted, will become live action movies, too.

I am reading these stories (both volume 1 & 2) to my 5 yr old who is completely enamored with princesses - mostly Disney. So I am exposing her to all sorts of princess stories - old and new. They have short chapters and lots of humor, making these books great read alouds. I am enjoying them just as much (if not more than) my daughter. The mixed up fairy tales, have the usual humble and pitiful beginnings and the famous happily everafter endings, but getting there is more than half the fun. Great stories for young and old alike.