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Welcome to Magic, Myth, & Mischief in celebration
of fairy tales, mythology, and fantastic beasts of lore such as dragons, fae, mermaids, and unicorns!
Join our celebration daily at A Backwards Story and That Artsy Reader Girl!
Stop back all week long for fun author interviews, exciting giveaways, reviews,
and more!
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O P E N I N G H O O K:
"We can't let it happen again," Queen Karolina said, dabbing at the tears that glistened in her deep blue eyes. "A Wicked fairy casting a horrid spell on my firstborn child was almost more than I could bear. Halbert and I have been frantic with worry ever since, and our poor little Gwendolyn has suffered so much. She can't even visit her grandparents because they refuse to banish spinning wheels from their kingdom."
(Pages 1, US paperback edition)
This review was first posted on April 27, 2011. It's one of my earliest reviews, so most of you likely haven't seen it yet!
This is a favorite middle-grade retelling of mine, and I thought it would be fun to introduce it to you if you haven't yet heard about it or picked it up!
With all this talk lately regarding the merits of fractured fairy tales, sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy a sugar-spun story. THE WIDE-AWAKE PRINCESS by E.D. Baker is ADORABLE. I think it’s my favorite book yet by Baker, who wrote the Tales of the Frog Princess series (the first novel was the inspiration for Disney’s The Princess and the Frog). The novel revolves around Princess Annie, the younger sister of Crown Princess Gwendolyn. As babies, Gwendolyn was cursed, destined to prick her finger on a spinning wheel upon turning sixteen. Not wanting another cursed princess, the King and Queen ask one fairy to gift Annie when she is born, making it so that no magic (good or bad) can ever harm her. When Gwendolyn pricks her finger and sends her kingdom into one hundred years of sleep, Annie is the only one unaffected. THE WIDE-AWAKE PRINCESS is her story, and deservedly so—Annie is one kick-ass heroine!
I hate how fairy tales can fall into tropes where the prince is always the one to save the day and rescue the powerless maiden. Not so here. One thing that hooked me early on was the way Annie saves Liam ( one of the unaffected guards who was away from the palace when the curse set in). He gets all shame-faced about it, but Annie could care less. Without her, he would have died. Liam joins Annie on her journey to gather up princes in an attempt to find her sister’s True Love. Along the way, she encounters a mish-mash of fairy tale encounters such as Hansel and Gretel as cleverly thrown together as something out of Stephen Sondheim’s epic musical Into the Woods or the Shrek movies. There’s even a fairy tale role for Annie, which I didn’t see coming, but was delighted about. The way the novel arrives at its conclusion was completely satisfactory. I especially loved the way romance builds between Annie and Liam despite their opposite roles in society. This book hit my sweet spot in all the right ways. It’s ADORABLE and I loved it to bits. I would have loved to see what happened next and wasn’t quite ready to leave Annie behind; she’s such a strong heroine that she wormed her way irrevocably into my heart.
Even better? Annie's adventures are now an entire series! I've been coveting a re-read of this fabulous book, and I'm excited to have even more books to read once I'm done returning to this world!
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C O V E R D E S I G N:
The cover is just as sweet as the story it’s concealing! Until I actually picked up the book and started reading, I thought this novel was going to be another Sleeping Beauty story, albeit one where the Princess somehow didn’t fall asleep.
Looking at the cover again now, there’s so much I previously missed. Annie is staring out the balcony window, which is the first thing your eye sees upon analyzing this cover. How did I ever overlook the sleeping girl on the bed behind her? Now it’s completely obvious that this book is about TWO princesses.
I also love the way there are sleeping courtiers and knights in the foreground below Annie. While Annie is described as average-looking in the book due to having been bestowed with no magical blessings at birth, the girl on the cover is really cute! To me, she looks just as pretty as her sleeping sister, the “beautiful one.” I think Annie is still adorable… No wonder Liam always tells her that!
I love the way the title typeface draws out the pink in Annie’s dress and uses a nice storybook font. Likewise, E.D. Baker’s name uses the coloring from the castle walls, which is more muted and fits in better at the bottom. None of the typography is obstructive, leaving us leeway to admire the beautifully-illustrated cover.
Looking at the cover again now, there’s so much I previously missed. Annie is staring out the balcony window, which is the first thing your eye sees upon analyzing this cover. How did I ever overlook the sleeping girl on the bed behind her? Now it’s completely obvious that this book is about TWO princesses.
I also love the way there are sleeping courtiers and knights in the foreground below Annie. While Annie is described as average-looking in the book due to having been bestowed with no magical blessings at birth, the girl on the cover is really cute! To me, she looks just as pretty as her sleeping sister, the “beautiful one.” I think Annie is still adorable… No wonder Liam always tells her that!
I love the way the title typeface draws out the pink in Annie’s dress and uses a nice storybook font. Likewise, E.D. Baker’s name uses the coloring from the castle walls, which is more muted and fits in better at the bottom. None of the typography is obstructive, leaving us leeway to admire the beautifully-illustrated cover.
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THE WIDE-AWAKE PRINCESS
Author: E.D. Baker
Release Date: May 11, 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Received: Purchased
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Received: Purchased
SUMMARY:
But who is her true love? The irritating Digby? The happy-go-lucky Prince Andreas, who is holding a contest to find his bride? The conniving Clarence, whose sinister motives couldn't possibly spell true love? Joined by one of her father's guards, Liam, who happened to be out of the castle when the sleeping spell struck, Annie travels through a fairy tale land populated with characters both familiar and new as she tries to fix her sister and her family . . . and perhaps even find a true love of her own.
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****Giveaway*****
During Magic, Myth & Mischief,
I'm giving away a book of YOUR CHOICE
from the event!
It could be THE STEPSISTER SCHEME!
Enter now!
***Today, the Rafflecopter added an entry where you get an extra point if you comment on today's review!
I'm giving away a book of YOUR CHOICE
from the event!
It could be THE STEPSISTER SCHEME!
Enter now!
***Today, the Rafflecopter added an entry where you get an extra point if you comment on today's review!
This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL to any country that Book Depository ships to. You can also claim an e-book as a prize; it doesn't have to be a physical copy!
You must be at least 13 years old to enter or have a parent's permission!
Enter now!
~*~
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