The Wide-Awake Princess
E.D. Baker
$7.99, Paperback
Bloomsbury, 2012
978-1599906584
January 25th, 2012
Genre:
Fantasy, Fairytale Spoof
Age: 8+
Description:
Princess Gwen has been cursed to touch a spinning wheel and fall into a
100-year sleep since her birth. Now that her 16th birthday is fast
approaching, everyone in her kingdom is nervous. Her younger sister, Annie, was
also cursed the day she was born—no magic could ever touch her. So, while all
the other royalty around her receives extra social graces and beauty from
enchanted fairies with magic at birth, Annie is stuck being the plain girl who
actually zaps magic from those around her. When the unthinkable happens and
Gwen does fall asleep an unexpected side effect also occurs when everyone else
in the castle at the time also falls asleep! It’s up to Annie to set off on a
journey to find a prince who, as Gwen’s true love, will awaken her with a kiss.
Opinion:
Tween girls and fans of Baker’s Tales of
a Frog Princess series will like this title as well (which does have a
sequel coming out this summer). The manner in which the spinning wheel enters
the kingdom is imaginative and the idea of everyone in the castle also falling
under the spell is ingenious. Other fairy tales make small appearances
throughout the novel also in new, fun takes which was one of my favorite parts
of the book. Making appearances are Hansel and Gretel (with an evil witch
suffering from Alzheimer’s so she keeps forgetting why the children are in her
house), Rapunzel (who comes off as a female escort as she “entertains” men who
come visit her tower, including married ones), and the Princess and the Pea. In
her journey, Annie is accompanied by Liam, a guard who has a dark secret which
proves to be very useful to helping save Annie’s family. What starts out as a
quest for a few good princes ends up getting them all entangled in a major
political coup. Fans of fractured fairy tales with love it.
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