France Month: Le bal des douze princesses by Miss Clara

Le bal des douze princesses illustrated by Miss Clara is her most recent release. A beloved tale, rarely illustrated and well-illustrated, too. This is on my wish list! I hope for an English edition someday... Really. This would be in my top 10 of wanting an English edition right now.

Book description:

Il était une fois 12 princesses, dont personne ne savait ce qu'elles faisaient la nuit venue.
On ne retrouvait que leurs escarpins tout usés chaque matin. Le roi promit la main d'une de ses filles à qui percerait le secret. Mais les princesses étaient si rusées que tous les princes échouèrent. Seul un soldat parvient à les suivre à travers une porte secrète qui les mène chaque soir dans un jardin merveilleux où elles dansent avec 12 beaux princes.

Bargain Ebook: Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

I was browsing through the new January bargain book deals and feeling rather discouraged by them when I found this gem that made me smile and welcome the new list.  Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George is a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling released originally in 2009 is marked down to $2.99 for the month of January in Amazon's 100 Books Deal. So if you don't have it, here's your chance for an inexpensive copy that still supports the author!

Book description:

Rose is one of twelve princesses forced to dance through the night in an underground palace. The key to breaking the spell lies in magic knitting needles, an invisibility cloak, and-of course-true love. Inspired by "The Twelve Dancing Princesses,"this novel is as captivating as it is fresh. Enchanted readers are sure to clamor for the new companion, Princess of Glass, also published.

After writing a few fairy tale inspired novels, including Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, George most recently had a successful release of Tuesdays at the Castle this past October and it will be a January birthday gift to my niece so I plan to read it myself in the coming weeks.

  

Bargain Ebook: Twelve Dancing Princesses by Brigette Barrager

It's Cyber Monday and there are countless ebook deals today which I am busily exploring, with over 900 books deeply discounted at Amazon. I will be exploring the titles myself and will share specific ones related to fairy tales and folklore if I find some. To get started, here is my first picture book purchase for Kindle. Since I now have a Kindle Fire, too, I wanted to try out some picture books and this was a great place to start. I don't imagine myself becoming a big proponent of digital picture books--I might be addicted to novels and other reading on an ereader, but I am for regular paper all the way on paperbooks. But I also like having some as backup.

So my first ebook picture book for $2.99 is Twelve Dancing Princesses by Brigette Barrager. I didn't own this in paper and now I at least own it as an ebook. Lovely. My second purchase, not a fairy tale, but a book I like was Duck! Rabbit! for $1.99 because I just like that one. I own many, many picture books and this is another favorite.

Now in eBook Format: Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World

Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World edited by Heidi Anne Heiner (yes, that's me) is now available as an ebook. Please note that TWO of the tales available in the paper edition are not available in the ebook edition due to digital reprint permissions, both are from Cape Verde and can be found in The Journal of American Folklore. This exception is not noted on the ebook's page, but it will soon after the page is finished being built. However, I was able to retain digital reprint permission for The Hell Bent Misses, my favorite title in the collection, so you will get it in there. Not necessarily my favorite tale, but definitely one of the BEST TITLES for a tale ever.

And, yes, Sleeping Beauties should be available in ebook format soon. Hopefully by the end of this week. And simultaneous ebook and paper editions are planned for the upcoming Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Grateful Dead collections.

Heidi is a busy, busy person...  Someone should give her a vacation... Or at least reward her with all of her hard work by buying a book...

More about Merrie Haskell's The Princess Curse

Yesterday's post for Merrie Haskell's The Princess Curse pushed live without the enhancing I had originally planned for it. I usually try to add some reviews or a little more commentary to the new book announcements. (Waving at Haskell who saw and commented on the post, too!)

So for your reading evaluation, the first few paragraphs are available for reading at Harper Teen. And Haskell's site has a page of review excerpts to read, too.

I do enjoy seeing how so many different authors interpret this once lesser known tale. I don't know if we can call it lesser known these days between Barbie and all of the recent books. Perhaps what fascinates me most is that this one wasn't used to inspire a classic ballet. Doesn't it seem just perfect for it, really?

   

Sharing a Review for Entwined by Heather Dixon

Entwined by Heather Dixon just got a stellar review from Bookshelves of Doom. Here's an excerpt:

Just when I thought I'd rather pull an Oedipus (the eyes, not the mom) than read yet another re-telling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", along came Heather Dixon's Entwined, which somehow managed to feel fresh and original and charming AS WELL AS adding humor and suspense to a story that we all know every in and out of WHILE STILL staying true to the original.

Seriously, I'm still not sure how she managed it. This book was pure enjoyment.

***

Awesome relationships and dynamics between just EVERYONE.

Have I used the word awesome yet?

If you dig the fairy tale books, be sure not to miss this one.

The review itself is much longer so click over to read it. So has anyone else read and loved this one yet?

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

The Princess Curseby Merrie Haskell is officially released today. I've lost count of how many Twelve Dancing Princesses themed novels we've seen in the past decade. This is one of the only ones aimed primarily at middle readers however. I really like the cover art on this one.

Book description from the publisher:

Twelve princesses suffer from a puzzling (if silly) curse, and anyone who ends it will win a reward. Reveka, a sharp-witted and irreverent apprentice herbalist, wants that reward. But her investigations lead to deeper mysteries and a daunting choice—will she break the curse at the peril of her own soul? Ages 10 and up.

Twelve Dancing Princesses by Emma Chichester Clark

  

I posted the Snow White and Rose Red illustrations yesterday but have updated the entry with extra pictures. For today, since I have already featured a new Twelve Dancing Princesses picture book by Brigette Barrager, I thought I would feature the same fairy tale by Clark, too.

Isn't it fun to see all of the various interpretations of the tale by illustrators?

And all of this reminds me that I never even devoted a week to the tale when I released Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World last year. Should I do that? It's a much shorter collection than Bluebeard, but it's interesting all the same.

The McElderry Book of Grimms' Fairy Tales by Saviour Pirotta (Adapter), Emma Chichester Clark (Illustrator) is not a new book, but I recently discovered many of the illustrations from it in an online exhibition.

Here's the illustrations:

THE PRINCESSES' SATIN SHOES

EVERY PRINCESS GOT INTO A BOAT

'PUT THIS ON YOUR SHOULDERS,' SHE WHISPERED, 'AND IT WILL MAKE YOU INVISIBLE'

The Twelve Dancing Princesses illustrated by Brigette Barrager

The Twelve Dancing Princesses illustrated by Brigette Barrager was released last month and got lost in the Bluebeard theme, so here it is today! This is Barrager's first book and appears to be a fairly straight forward retelling of the fairy tale.

There are some fairy tales I feel compelled to acquire all of the picture book versions. That would be nearly impossible with Cinderella--which can compel me if the version is interesting. But my real challenges are Beauty and the Beast and Twelve Dancing Princesses. Neither of those appear as often in picture books, but it still makes for a challenge. This one goes on the consideration list. I hope to see it in the bookstore first although I rarely get to one anymore. Most of the ones nearby have shut down, so I have to travel at least 15-20 miles to get to the nearest one. In a major city, no less. I don't live in the boonies!

Product description:

The talented Brigette Barrager lavishly illustrates this beautiful retelling of the Grimm Brothers' "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." In this fairy tale, twelve princesses wake up every morning to find their shoes are worn out and they are totally exhausted! A handsome suitor discovers that the princesses are enchanted, and that each night, in their sleep, they travel to a magical world to dance at a ball. Will this handsome suitor be able to break the spell and rescue the princesses?

And now for some illustrations....