The Wide-Awake Princess
by E.D. BakerI picked this one up on our last trip to the library, and I'm so glad I did. What a fun story! I'm going to add it right away to my list of clean fantasy romances for growing girls.
I don't know how I missed it until now, but the timing is right, because I just saw that a sequel is forthcoming this Fall.
Here's my Book Review: Princess Annabelle, known as Annie, is the younger sister of Gwendolyn (aka Sleeping Beauty). When the beautiful Gwendolyn pricks her finger on a spinning wheel, everyone in the castle falls asleep. Everyone except Annie, that is.
Annie isn't affected by magic. In fact, any magic near her grows increasingly weaker. The other royals despise her because their magical gifts of beauty and grace fade in her presence. Even her parents keep their distance.
Annie sets out on a quest to find Gwendolyn's true love, so she can wake her family. One adventure proceeds another as she travels through fairy tales.
Along the way, the meet a Hansel-and-Gretel-esk witch, an enchanted prince who is in the form of a bear, a swamp prince who used to be a frog, and a prince holding contests to find a bride.
Baker flips many fairy tales on their heads in this creative adventure.
I thought the witch mentioned above was kind of creepy. She was fattening up a couple children to eat them. Of course, Annie outwitted her, saving the children, and creating a pretty funny and entertaining scene.
As you can imagine, there is also quite a bit of talk about kissing. After all, it IS the only way to wake a sleeping princess.
I read this to my 8 and 6 year olds. They both loved it. We finished it a few days ago, and today my 6 year old girl, Welly, said, "I just keep thinking about The Wide-Awake Princess. I can't believe that..." Sorry. I can't tell you the rest. It would spoil the ending. :)
Very fun! I have seen this one and wanted to check it out. She also wrote "The Frog Princess" that the disney movie is loosely based on. I read that to the girls and they LOVED it. We are now in the middle of the second one. The thing I like about it is that Emma, the princess, doesn't just give her kisses away. We're going to talk about that a little bit as the book goes on. Also, Emma and Eadric are great characters with flaws that make them human, but also loveable.
ReplyDelete