The Princess Tales--Gail Carson Levine

A good, quick read. I read about half of it out loud to Rachel and found it much more entertaining that way. It's a set of three short stories written for children ages 7-12 and I imagine that I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I been 8 or 9 when I read it. As it were, it was still a fun read. Cute mix-uped fairy tales. It's just cute. It's not a thrilling plot--just a cute story. Think eight years old.

The reason I have this, personalized autographed, copy of the book is because Gail Carson Levine spoke at BYU on Friday. I missed it. And I was sad because she wrote one of my favorite books, Ella Enchanted, another little retelling of a fairy tale. I guess I can't really say that she's one of my favorite authors because Princess Tales (volume 2--did I mention that? I haven't read the first one) is only the second book of hers that I've read. However, since she penned one of my favorites, she gets the title of favorite author.

Anyway, my mom went to listen to her speak and then bought me Princess Tales (volume 2) and got Levine's autograph for me. What a sweet mommy I have! She bought my little sister the first volume so we'll have to trade this weekend (she'll probably be sleeping over at my house, anyway).

Now that I've read this book I think I'll have to break out Ella Enchanted again. I love that story. If you've seen the movie and haven't read the book, be warned that the book is MUCH better than the movie. That said, the movie was cute enough. Although people who read the book before watching the movie weren't the biggest fans, the movie rocketed book sales...anyway...I recommend Ella Enchanted. It's written for an older audience and isn't "dumbed down" as much as Princess Tales is.