The Thirteenth Princess and A True Princess by Diane Zahler



978-0-06-182500-2



978-0-06-182501-9
HarperCollins
Review copies from publisher

As we have mentioned countless times, we love us a good fractured fairy tale. Many of those we have seen lately, however, are more suitable for young adults - great for them, but that leaves out the large number of upper elementary-age girls who love a good fairy tale of any sort.

Both of these by Zahler, fortunately, are perfect for that age group. The traditional fairy tales - The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Princess and the Pea - are fleshed out enough to satisfy the reader who wants some questions answered (WHY do they have to dance all night?), yet still light and full of enough romance and beautiful dresses to satisfy the girly-girl. Characters tend to be fairy-taleish (we are making up words this week) in that they are either all bad, all good, or have one particular flaw that their character must overcome. In a serious YA historical fiction that would bug the shells off of us, but for these it works just fine.

Recommended for elementary or middle school libraries, we give these a

4 out of 5.