As an avid reader, I sometimes get asked what my favorite book is. That’s kind of a sadistic question because how could ANYONE choose one book out of millions? But for me at least I always give the same answer: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, the most magical, unforgettable book on earth. Reading that book as a teenager opened up my mind in a way no other book had, and it steered me directly toward the exact genre I wanted to write when I grew up. I owe Gail Carson Levine a lot as a fellow writer.
But I’m actually not writing about Ella Enchanted today. I’m about to introduce you to the second series of books I fell in love with by Gail Carson Levine. A set of bite-sized stories that are criminally unknown and so witty in their brevity: The Princess Tales.
Fairy Tales with Humor and Anachronistic Charm
Sometimes I think that the fairy tale retelling genre takes itself too seriously. By that I mean that writers think they’re SO original making fairy tales dark, gruesome, and tragic again. Which is . . . basically the least original thing you can do with fairy tales. I’m just saying that they’ve been filled with carnage and death since the beginning of time.
Personally, I would way rather laugh than cry. Don’t give me edgy and angsty—give me hilarious and fun. And that’s exactly what The Princess Tales do in brilliant fashion.
The best part of these stories besides their light-hearted humor and modern language is that they’re short enough to read in one sitting. I used to dazzle the kids I babysat by bringing these cute little books with me and plowing through one in an evening. They’re anything but simplistic, and yet they can be enjoyed in record time.
You can definitely read this series in less than a week, but you don’t have to read them in order. To help you choose which one to sample first, here’s a quick summary of each book in the order they were published.
The Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine
The Fairy’s Mistake
First up is Levine’s delightful and ironic retelling of Charles Perrault’s Diamonds and Toads. You’ve probably heard this one: in it two sisters encounter a fairy at the well. The sweet sister offers her a drink, and the fairy rewards her by making jewels drop from her mouth when the lass speaks. The rude, haughty sister who spurns the fairy is cursed to have toads and snakes drop from her mouth. But the fairy’s reward and punishment completely backfire. While the sister with the jewels ends up miserable in the clutches of a greedy prince, the other sister uses her “curse” to create her perfect life.
I won’t spoil the big twist, but this retelling is hilarious and spot on in its prediction of how these spells would actually turn out in the real world. This is one of Levine’s greatest achievements of her collection.
The Princess Test
Up next is a zany retelling of the Princess and the Pea. Here Prince Nicholas falls in love with Lorelai, a blacksmith’s daughter, but his father is absolutely adamant that his son will marry a real princess. The king devises a series of ridiculous tests for every eligible princess to complete, eliminating the maidens one by one The Bachelor style until only one bride is left standing. When Lorelai unwittingly gets swept up in the gaggle of royals, Prince Nicholas can only sit back and bite his nails as Lorelai competes to win the boy she loves.
This love story is just adorable. I remember reading it out loud to my little brother and him finding the princess tests completely hilarious as a kid.
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep
This unconventional version of Sleeping Beauty is the only retelling I can think of with a princess who is truly active. Of course Princess Sonora gets cursed to prick her finger and sleep for one hundred years, but she also gets some other gifts at her birth that make life . . . a bit harder than usual for a little girl. This princess isn’t just pretty—she’s a genius. And while everyone else in the kingdom is frantically trying to prevent her curse from coming true, Princess Sonora just wants to make her land a better place for everyone.
This story has a particularly charming combination of farcical ridiculousness and pragmatism that strangely works. And Sonora’s prince is the perfect soul mate for her, though I will not reveal why.
Cinderellis and the Glass Hill
A Cinderella retelling with a boy? You’d better believe it! Cinderellis is an inventor who can never seem to impress his two self-absorbed brothers. When the king pronounces a test to win his daughter’s hand in marriage, Princess Marigold is forced to sit atop a glass pyramid while the greatest horsemen in the land attempt to reach her. This is the perfect opportunity for Cinderellis to let his smarts shine and win his brothers’ unattainable respect. Although Princess Marigold seems nice, Cinderellis doesn’t actually intend to marry her. Little does he know . . . the two of them have met before.
This is the first book I discovered of The Princess Tales, and it’s my favorite installment in the series. What a breath of fresh air to read a gender-bent version of Cinderella that isn’t centered around sports. For real though.
For Biddle’s Sake
This one is kind of the weird, red-headed stepchild of The Princess Tales. It’s a retelling of a properly obscure German fairy tale called “Puddocky.” The Grimms adapted this fairy tale into Cherry, the Frog Bride, which is basically a girl version of the Frog Prince.
Here a girl named Parsley loves eating parsley more than anything in the world. But when some fairy magic goes terribly wrong, Parsley is transformed into a toad. Her only hope of returning to human form is for a man to propose marriage to her. Meanwhile, the king sends his three sons on a quest to become the heir. The two selfish brothers are determined to win, but the youngest, Prince Tansy, isn’t so sure he deserves any crown. In his wanderings, he meets Parsley the toad, who knows exactly how to fulfill his father’s requests. And she shows Tansy that friendship and love aren’t just skin deep.
The Fairy Returns
Levine ends The Princess Tales by taking them full circle and revisiting the shenanigans that started it all! The fairy is back, and she’s pretty gun shy after her wretched mistake with the two sisters way back when. But she’s willing to give this rewards thing a try again. When a sweet young man named Robin shows the fairy kindness, she rewards him in a rather . . . unconventional way. Clearly the obvious path didn’t work last time. But now she’s going to win Robin the girl of his dreams with a magical goose and a parade of hapless villagers.
This one is a retelling of the Grimms’ The Golden Goose, which is oh so delightful in its randomness. Apparently Levine got tired of the popular fairy tales, so she reached a little deeper in the bag to defy expectations. No complaints here.
But Seriously, You Should Try The Princess Tales
They’re adorable. They’re funny. They have a way of making love at first sight feel natural and tender in a way most stories don’t. And all six books have a core message of not being afraid to go for your dreams. I can’t think of anything purer than that. ❧
