  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 02/01/2017 Fantastical illustrations combine with beautifully rhymed poetry in this collection of princess stories from all over the world. Ten princess tales are lyrically retold, from well-known tales such as Rapunzel and the Little Mermaid to lesser-known tales such as Toads and Diamonds. Fun and colorful illustrations cover most of the pages, accompanied by the decoratively framed text. The clever and witty rhymes will be fun for children to read aloud, whether alone or with others. Each fairy tale is accompanied by a list of items children can find hidden in the intricate illustrations, and another list of items is listed at the beginning of the book. This will allow children to explore the worlds the tales are set in and find countless treasures they may have missed during the first reading. Young readers will enjoy this fun way of visiting familiar and not-so-familiar fairy tales. This anthology is ideal for collections where books such as Shirley Climo’s A Treasury of Princesses (1996) are popular, or wherever the first title, Princess Tales (2013), has fans. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. School Library Journal - 02/01/2017 K-Gr 4—There is so much more than happy endings when it comes to fairy tales. Rapunzel's prince loses his eyesight when trying to rescue her. The little mermaid never marries the prince; instead, with a broken heart, she goes back to the sea after her sisters relinquish their hair to the sea witch. Furthermore, Scheherazade employs her ingenuity to save her life over and over again, and Princess Moonlight understands that she must leave her parents and home to embrace her destiny. Maccarone adapts nine classic tales. Her rhyming text is eloquently shaped, flowing naturally and surrounding readers with rich vocabulary. Moreover, the adapter retrieves characters from classical literature and her own imagination to create a powerful fairy-tale rendition. Elementary school children will be fascinated by the dense texture of the expressionist illustrations, where emotions are emphasized through contrasting colors, taking the prose beyond words. The book has an interactive seek-and-find element, which teachers can use to animate a class unit on fairy tales with a projector. However, the small font makes this title better suited for a private storytime at home than a setting with a larger audience. VERDICT An artistic and poetic approach to fairy tales that public and school libraries will appreciate.—Kathia Ibacache, Simi Valley Public Library, CA - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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