The Fairy's Mistake
Gail Carson Levine charmed the world with Ella Enchanted, her spirited retelling of the Cinderella story. Now this award-winning author turns her attention to two more classic fairy tales, and deftly turns them upside down and inside out with her trademark wit and hilarity.\ In The Fairy's Mistake, two very different sisters have two very different encounters with the fairy Ethelinda. Rosella is kind and helpful. Her reward: Jewels and gems tumble out of her mouth whenever she speaks. Myrtle...
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Gail Carson Levine charmed the world with Ella Enchanted, her spirited retelling of the Cinderella story. Now this award-winning author turns her attention to two more classic fairy tales, and deftly turns them upside down and inside out with her trademark wit and hilarity.In The Fairy's Mistake, two very different sisters have two very different encounters with the fairy Ethelinda. Rosella is kind and helpful. Her reward: Jewels and gems tumble out of her mouth whenever she speaks. Myrtle is rude and spiteful. Her punishment: Bugs and vipers slither out of her mouth. The fairy Ethelinda feels she's meted out justice just right—until she discovers Rosella has been locked up by a greedy prince and Myrtle is having the time of her life! In The Princess Test, King Humphrey has decided it's time for his son, Prince Nicholas, to marry. But he must make sure the bride is a real princess. So he devises a series of princess tests, designed to weed out the phonies and the fakes. Meanwhile, Nicholas has fallen in love with Lorelei, a mere blacksmith's daughter. She's no princess, but he wants to marry her all the same—but how will she ever pass the terrible tests?In these first two delightfully entertaining, laugh-out-loud Princess Tales, Gail Levine gently spoofs the notion that fairies are always right and that tests can ever prove a person's worth, but holds fast to the notion that true love will always win in the end. Publishers Weekly Levine's talent for hilarious subversion of fairy tale motifs, used to great effect in Ella Enchanted, her Newbery Honor-winning debut, is honed to perfection in this pair of stories, which kicks off the Princess Tales series. In The Fairy's Mistake, Levine revisits the Brothers Grimm's "Toads and Diamonds": fairy Ethelinda rewards kind Rosella, punishes her evil twin sister, Myrtle, and thinks the job is done, only to find out her spells have backfired. In The Princess Test, Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea" gets turned on its head: Lorelei, a blacksmith's daughter, proves that royal lineage is no guarantee of character. Levine once again creates heroines who defy fairy-tale stereotypes. For example, Rosella agrees to marry greedy Prince Harold because "she thought it might be pleasanter to be a princess than to be the widow Pickering's daughter and Myrtle's sister." Similarly, Lorelei, prevented from doing any work since birth because of her extreme sensitivity, is neither spoiled nor selfish. She is, however, prone to accidents and na vet . It is these unorthodox qualities that will endear Rosella and Lorelei to readers. In fact, Levine gently pokes fun at all of her characters' shortcomings (Ethelinda's ineptitude, King Humphrey's obsessive use of synonyms) and upsets the usual balance of good and evil. Elegant design and Elliott's framed, black-and-white drawings create a timeless effect that plays off nicely against Levine's updated plot twists. This is grand entertainment, likely to appeal to anyone who appreciates deadpan delivery, reluctant royalty and a touch of romance. Ages 7-10. (Apr.)
Chapter One\ Once upon a time, in the village of Snettering-on-Snoakes in the kingdom of Biddle, Rosella fetched water from the well for the four thousand and eighty-eighth time.\ Rosella always fetched the water because her identical twin sister, Myrtle, always refused to go. And their mother, the widow Pickering, never made Myrtle do anything. Instead, she made Rosella do everything.\ At the well the fairy Ethelinda was having a drink. When she saw Rosella coming, she changed herself into an old lady. Then she made herself look thirsty.\ "Would you like a drink, Grandmother?" Rosella said.\ "That would be lovely, dearie."\ Rosella lowered her wooden bucket into the well. When she lifted it out, she held the dipper so the old lady could drink.\ Ethelinda slurped the water. "Thank you. Your kindness merits a reward. From now'"\ "You don't have . . ." Rosella stopped. Something funny was happening in her mouth. Had she lost a tooth? There was something hard under her tongue. And something hard in her cheek. "Excuse me." Now there was something in her other cheek. She spat delicately into her hand.\ They weren't teeth. She was holding a diamond and two opals.\ "There, dearie." Ethelinda smiled. "Isn't that nice?"\ The Fairy's Mistake. Copyright © by Gail Levine. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Levine's talent for hilarious subversion of fairy tale motifs, used to great effect in Ella Enchanted, her Newbery Honor-winning debut, is honed to perfection in this pair of stories, which kicks off the Princess Tales series. In The Fairy's Mistake, Levine revisits the Brothers Grimm's "Toads and Diamonds": fairy Ethelinda rewards kind Rosella, punishes her evil twin sister, Myrtle, and thinks the job is done, only to find out her spells have backfired. In The Princess Test, Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea" gets turned on its head: Lorelei, a blacksmith's daughter, proves that royal lineage is no guarantee of character. Levine once again creates heroines who defy fairy-tale stereotypes. For example, Rosella agrees to marry greedy Prince Harold because "she thought it might be pleasanter to be a princess than to be the widow Pickering's daughter and Myrtle's sister." Similarly, Lorelei, prevented from doing any work since birth because of her extreme sensitivity, is neither spoiled nor selfish. She is, however, prone to accidents and na vet . It is these unorthodox qualities that will endear Rosella and Lorelei to readers. In fact, Levine gently pokes fun at all of her characters' shortcomings (Ethelinda's ineptitude, King Humphrey's obsessive use of synonyms) and upsets the usual balance of good and evil. Elegant design and Elliott's framed, black-and-white drawings create a timeless effect that plays off nicely against Levine's updated plot twists. This is grand entertainment, likely to appeal to anyone who appreciates deadpan delivery, reluctant royalty and a touch of romance. Ages 7-10. (Apr.)\ \ \ \ \ Children's Literature - Julie Steinberg\ kes when she is angry, the fairy becomes more careful when dispensing justice, and everyone lives happily ever after. Clever writing and a witty rendition of the "Toads and Diamonds" fairy tale make this book hard to put down. Levine is the author of Ella Enchanted, a Newberry Honor Book.\ \ \ School Library JournalGr 3-6-Two novellas that are grounded in well-known tales and set in the magical kingdom of Biddle. The Fairy's Mistake is a play on "Toads and Diamonds," a story from Perrault about gifts given by a witch to two sisters, one kind and the other unkind. The Princess Test is based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea." Illustrated with full-page pen-and-ink drawings, both retellings are delightfully lighthearted, with little doubt that good will ultimately triumph over evil. There is a rich use of language and spirited characters, especially the females. Although "The Princess Tales" lack the complexity of plot and fantastical invention found in Levine's Ella Enchanted (HarperCollins, 1997), they make a nice addition to the genre of novels based on and yet departing from traditional tales. Although their short length and sly humor would make the books appeal to reluctant readers, the difficult font makes it hard to recommend them to that audience.-Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsThis hand-sized volume features delicate black-and-white line drawings that are very much in keeping with the tone of many fairy tales, but those familiar with Levine's Ella Enchanted will wisely expect, and be gratified by, the sly and unexpected foolery of this story and its companion, The Princess Test (0-06-028062-X; PLB 0-06-028063-8). In The Fairy's Mistake, Ethelinda is horrified to discover that her fairy blessing on the kind Rosella, that jewels fall from her mouth when she speaks, is being exploited by her greedy new husband, Prince Harold. Her curse on Rosella's sister, Myrtle, who drops slimy and creepy things from her mouth when she speaks, is also going awry; Myrtle uses this to get whatever she wants from people. The Princess Test takes on Lorelei's ability to feel a pea under 20 mattresses: this young thing is a great trial to her family as she is allergic to, or injures herself with, almost every household item she touches. Genuinely delightful and funny, both tales are set in the village of Snettering-on-Snoakes in the Kingdom of Biddle, a place readers will want to visit again. (Fiction. 7-12)\ \
