This semester I have managed to squeeze in a bit more pleasure reading than in past semesters, and I recently read two books that I would add to my bibliography on modern fairy tales for children aged 9-12 if I were to do the project today. If I ever actually get around to making a portfolio website, I will add them to the list of books I created for that project.
The first is called Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. It is one of this year's Newbery Honor books and is the story of Minli, a young girl who sets off to change her family's fortune by seeking out the the Old Man of the Moon. I really struggled to find multicultural books to include in my fairy tale bibliography, but this book would have been perfect. It intersperses retellings of Chinese folktales with Minli's story. It also includes some lovely illustrations that you can get a taste of in the book trailer:
The second is called The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler. It's a retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" from the point of view of a thirteenth sister, Zita. Zita was basically disowned by her father at birth because he blamed her for the death of her mother, so she grew up as a servant in the palace although all of the servants knew her to be a princess. When she finds out that the twelve princesses are really her sisters, she and the princesses become very close, until one day they start becoming very ill - tired and weak. It's up to Zita, with the help of her friends (including an old witch and a handsome soldier), to figure out the mystery of the illness and save her sisters before it's too late! It's a really cute book, definitely geared more towards the 9-12 age range than the YA audience. There's a book trailer for it as well, but it's kind of cheesy. At the end you can see the pretty book cover though!
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