Princess of Glass (Twelve Dancing Princesses Series)

by Jessica Day George

Overview

Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program. She travels abroad hoping to find better political alliances and perhaps a marriage. But thanks to a vengeful fairy, Poppy's happily ever after gets complicated. This companion to Princess of the Midnight Ball will delight readers with action and romance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599907291
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/01/2011
Series:	Twelve Dancing Princesses Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	75,637
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jessica Day George is the author of many books for young readers, including the wonderfully whimsical Tuesdays at the Castle and three books in the Dragonskin Slippers series. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a librarian and bookseller. Jessica lives with her family in Salt Lake City, Utah.
To find out more, visit jessicadaygeorge.com.

Editorial Reviews

George delivers another satisfying fairytale retelling. In this Cinderella tale, Eleanora, a rich girl of noble birth, hates working as a maid, but has no other options since her father gambled away the family money and died. When a magical godmother offers her a way to regain her status, she eagerly accepts. Princess Poppy of Westfalin, who is visiting her Breton cousins, recognizes right away that all is not right with the new maid. When the young men of her acquaintance, including her new friend Prince Christian, fall in love with a mysterious girl at a ball—a girl who looks a lot like Eleanora—Poppy begins to suspect foul play. Still haunted by her own experiences with black magic (Princess of the Midnight Ball, Bloomsbury 2009/VOYA June 2009 ), Poppy wears protective charms which allow her to see through Eleanora's glamour. Unfortunately, this means that she is the only one who realizes something is wrong. Determined to solve this mystery before anyone, including Eleanora, gets hurt, Poppy must find a way to break the enchantment and discover the true identity of Eleanora's sinister godmother. Poppy is intrepid and forthright, refreshing qualities in a fairytale princess. Christian is an affable hero who is far from perfect—and sometimes quite helpless (also a refreshing change, for a fairytale prince). George continues to develop her alternate Europe, which gives the tales a touch of political intrigue as well. As with George's other retellings, be prepared for plenty of twists, including molten glass shoes. Reviewer: Brenna Shanks

VOYA - Brenna Shanks

Princess Poppy and her eleven sisters finally broke the evil King Under Stone's curse with the help of her oldest sisters' husbands and no longer danced night after night until their shoes wore out and their toes bled. Poppy vowed never to dance again. But then her father sends her to stay with the Seadowns cousins in Breton, and learn how to be a proper princess with elegant manners. Unfortunately, she keeps being taken to balls and is expected to dance. Poppy does finally attend a ball and, though refusing to dance, has a fine time beating the men at cards—much to their dismay. Prince Christian of Danelaw is at the Breton court on a goodwill mission and is smitten with Poppy. A beautiful girl about Poppy's age is also living at the Seadowns, but she lives well below her station as an inept maid, calling herself Ellen, though her real name is Eleanora. Turns out her family was cursed by the Corley who keeps trying to replace her long dead goddaughter and now befriends Ellen, who is thrilled to have a way back into society as the bewitching Lady Ella. When Poppy and her cousins and Christian realize poor Ellen is being turned to glass by the evil Corley, they rush to her aid. With the help of magic potions and Poppy masquerading as Ellen/Eleanora/Ella, the courageous bunch outwit the Corley and reinstate Eleanora to her rightful position. This was a fun read with a nice fast pace and an engaging heroine. Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan

Children's Literature - Sarah Maury Swan

Gr 5–8—George continues with her novelization of fairy tales by placing Princess Poppy, one of three surviving sisters from Princess of the Midnight Ball (Bloomsbury, 2009) at the center of a Cinderella plot that includes a bewitchingly evil premise. The magic that forced all 12 princesses to dance incessantly is reversed, and Poppy is sent for a respite to Seadown House, where the last thing she wishes to do is attend parties to dance. It is there that she encounters a maid whose misfortune has landed her in her present state of servitude after losing her family, inheritance, and stature as the daughter of an Earl. Ellen is not the best maid—she's resentful, clumsy, awkward, inept, and quite useless, often causing accidents and irreparable damage. She misses her upper-class socializing, so when an important invitation to a ball arrives at Seadown, Ellen is determined to go with the aid of a nefarious godmother, "the Corley," who is also responsible for the wickedly construed misfortunes in Princess Poppy's family. George weaves in elements from the first novel in a somewhat convoluted and drawn-out narrative in which the evil magic is finally conquered through Poppy's knowledge and previous experience. This Cinderella story serves more as a subplot to the action surrounding the principal character and pales in comparison to Diane Stanley's Bella at Midnight (HarperCollins, 2006), Donna Jo Napoli's Bound (S & S, 2004), or Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted (HarperCollins, 1997).—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI

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