The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Classic Fairy Tale Collection)
Kindergarten-Grade 4–In this retelling of the Grimm Brothers' tale called The Dancing Shoes, several significant details have been changed. In Cech's story, the king owns up, in the end, to the fact that he has not allowed dancing in his kingdom since his dear queen died, and his eldest daughter expounds, Our souls just wouldn't be still until they had their fill of dancing. In the original tale, The princesses had dancing shoes, which they wore when the king had grand entertainments…, and their overprotective father locks, bolts, and bars the door to their sleeping hall each evening. The young ladies escape to the subterranean castle via a flight of stairs hidden under the oldest girl's bed. In Cech's tale, there is nothing secret about the staircase. In place of the dire ending of the original tale, each of Cech's princesses soon marries the prince who escorted her to the enchanted castle each night, and all live happily ever after. An author's note loosely relates pieces of the story to the hero tales of Gilgamesh, Orpheus, and Odysseus, and to the Indian tale called Dorani and the English Kate Crackernuts. Corvino has used acrylic and watercolor paints and inks, with pencil detail–particularly on faces–to create lovely illustrations in the classic fairy-tale style. This adaptation is a worthy purchase for most collections, and the upbeat retelling makes the tale accessible to children as young as five or six years.–Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.