The Twelve Dancing Princesses - Softcover

John Cech

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1454909005 ISBN 13: 9781454909002

Publisher: Sterling, 2013

Synopsis

Every morning the king's twelve daughters need twelve new pairs of shoes. But why? John Cech's retelling of the classic fairy tale and Lucy Corvino's whimsical illustrations will introduce a new generation of readers to this story about following one's heart. It is aimed at children aged between 5 and 11 years old. Once upon a time, when a miller met the King, he proudly announced that his beautiful daughter had a special talent: she could actually spin straw into gold. That caught His Majesty's attention immediately; unfortunately, it wasn't true. Yet the poor girl's life depended on completing this impossible task. With lyricism and grace, John Cech retells this suspenseful story. Martin Hargreaves offers richly elaborate artwork that truly captures the characters' personalities and their far-away fairy-tale world.

About this title

About the Author

John Cech has been a professor of children's literature at the University of Florida in Gainesville for the past 30 years. He received the Chandler Award of Merit for his work in Children's Literature. Cech is the author of the first six books in the Classic Fairy Tale Collection. Lucy Corvino's books for Sterling include several Classic Starts[trademark] titles, Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson (2000), A Father's Song (2006), and numerous joke and puzzle books

From School Library Journal

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, OH
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About this edition

• Publisher: Sterling
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1454909005
• ISBN 13: 9781454909002
• Binding: Paperback