More Princess Stories That Won't Shrink Ze Brain...
Reader devereaux/Nora comments that her 10-year-old reader (DD) had enjoyed Ella Enchanted and The Princess Academy, eagerly seeks out alternate versions of fairy tales, and would welcome more suggestions of books of the fractured fairy tale genre.
Here's a list of novels suitable for middle and YA readers, from which this discriminating young reader may choose: Beauty, a reworked Snow White, by Nancy Butcher; Beauty Sleep, by Cameron Dokey; The Great Good Thing, by Rod Townley; East,< a retelling of East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, by Edith Patou; and Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, an extension of Peter Pan by Gail Carson Levine. I haven't read these novels myself, but they received good professional reviews.
Devereaux/Nora also requested some fiction books about doll houses. Nora didn't mention any favorites, but if DD hasn't found these two, The Doll People and its sequel The Meanest Doll in the World, by Ann M. Martin, should fill the bill. Another tried-and-true dollhouse fantasy is Rumer Godden's classic The Doll's House.
If DD doesn't mind a bit of mystery, there's also The Doll House Murders, by Betty Ren Wright, a not-terribly-scary mystery in which the dolls in the attic dollhouse rearrange themselves each night to help Amy solve a decades-old murder in the old house below.
I hope the above titles help. If any of you readers out there have other suggestions for our 10-year-old DD, please add your comments to help Nora keep her reading happily!
posted by GTC at
7:28 PM
4 Comments:
Great! Thanks so much. She has read the Ann Martin books - and wants more, LOL. She is reading the Doll House Murders ATM. We'll get the novels you mentioned.
Nora
By
Devereaux, at 10:20 AM
Nuts. Something ate my comment.
Our ten year old reader likes all sorts of things.
In the fractured, or variations on fairy tales department, we have Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest quartet all with Dragons in the titles: Dealing with Dragons, Searching For, Calling on, Talking With..
They were written before 'non-standard' princess in stories were common. The princess in the first one has a discussion about why Aunt Rose's precedent doesn't count: you can't count the hundred years she spent asleep' or wtte. Others we glimpse along the way: the dwarf over run with kids because the silly girls never guess his name - even after he changed it to something simple!, the giant tired of ravaging who is advised to change careers...
And there's Robin McKinley's _Beauty_, (Beauty and the Beast_). I don't think her second take on that story, _Rose Cottage_ would be nearly as accessible.
If they've read _Princess Academy_ they must have looked into Shannon Hale's other books? _Goose Girl_ is a novelization of the Grimm tale.
Terry Pratchett's three Diskworld YA novels about Tiffany Aching. The first is Wee Free Men and features the nine-year old Tiffany tackling the Fairy Queen armed only with a cast iron fry pan.
Let's see, what else does our ten year old really really like.... Artemis Fowl, and Garth Nix' Keys to the Kingdom series. The first has the world's youngest criminal mastermind, and high tech fairies - the tone is hard boiled.
The second is completely different. Nix's main character, Arthur, is made Heir to Reality. The Days who have been running things since the Architect left, aren't happy with this development. First title in the series is _Mister Monday_
Hope this helps
By
Elaine T, at 11:07 PM
Thank you, elainet, for the suggestions!
GTC, Knoxville
By
GTC, at 7:16 PM
No alternative princess list is complete without the classic The Princess Bride. Yes, it actually is a book, too! It's a lot of fun for adults, too, in case your older readers (like mine) still enjoy reading out loud together with their parents.
By
Unknown, at 1:03 PM
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