E.D. Baker
Bloomsbury, 2010
I first met Baker's creative take on traditional fairy tales via The Frog Princess books (which I loved, until my library stopped buying the new volumes - now I've got to try to get my hands on them all and start over. But I digress.) When I saw this on my library's shelf, I knew I had to give it a go. The cover looks a little young, but the story was fun and I did not feel like I was reading a "young" book. There's a humor to the events that had me cracking up inside, and I loved making all the connections.
Basically, The Wide-Awake Princess takes the story of Sleeping Beauty and upends it - along with many other fairy tales. Princess Annie is immune to magic, so the witch's spell on her sister - the "sleeping beauty" - has no effect on her. Rather than hang around and wait 100 years, Annie decides to see what she can do to wake her sister up, beginning with escaping the instantly-rose-covered castle and setting out to round up every available Prince to be found. All kinds of fairy tale characters are introduced on the scene, mingling and interacting with success - and hilarity. I love fairy tales, so I especially enjoyed seeing so many mixed like this. It was fun, it was a little different. It made me smile. Of course, everything turns out right in the end (it is a fairy tale after all!), but there are some surprises thrown in the mix. Not only will it appeal to the fairy tale lover, but those who just like a fun story will appreciate too.
Book provided by my local library.
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