The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

I did exactly what my mother told me not to do last night, stay up late and read a book all the way through. I have been in a reading slump for a while having drowned in children’s books this semester and my adult book well I started it in the summer and am about halfway through. I thought a quick something I’ve really wanted to read would get me back in the groove. Addie is afraid of everything. Her sister Meryl is the brave one who protects her. Then the tables are turned and Addie must take up the dangerous quest her sister has always sworn to do. Addie may be a princess but she reads like your average young woman. I think everyone either is an Addie or a Meryl and whether it is a friend or a sibling you have the other sister in your life too. (I’m an Addie.) I actually think this might be my new favorite Gail Carson Levine. I think it is the most heartfelt though I did feel a little cheesy at the end but we all need some happy ending now and then. This one also has the added bonus of there being no movie version to haunt me.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Snow White but so much more.  When I picked up this volume I was unaware of the ties to Ella Enchanted so I giggled maniacally when I came to mentions of Sir Peter of Frell and Areida.  I love Ella but I feel like with Aza there is so much more like Levine simply stepped everthing up a notch.  I think people tend to see fairy tales as having to be about the pretty princess getting the handsome prince and happily ever after, but personally I love fairytales because they can call into question what is beauty? What is friendship? What is love? What is happiness?  And they ask these questions in a way that makes you see the story as if there was a fun house mirror but it has been taken away.  Aza has a beautiful voice and a beautiful spirit but physically she is nothing to be admired.  She gets swept away from the Inn of those who raised her to the castle and there meets the beautiful new queen who is her polar opposite, only attractive on the outside or so it seems.  The prince has ears that are too big and a saucy hound by the name of Oochoo.  In this tale of magic and mystery things are not hardly ever as they seem, they are never as they seem.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

This is a book I come back to again and again. There is something about Ella that has endless appeal to awkward young girls.  Cursed with the “gift” of obedience Ella struggles to take control of her life and when the curse stands between her and happiness.  This is probably my favorite retelling of Cinderella.  Levine has an attention to detail that doesn’t drown you, but simply makes you giggle every time Olive counts her money.  Ironically though I enjoy the film version I wish I had never watched it because it is impossible to not let it affect how you read the book.

Newbery Honor 1998