Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Hale, S. (2008). Book of a Thousand Days (Unabridged, 6 discs). Full Cast Audio.

ISBN:1599900513

Price :$17.95 hardback

Reader's Annotation: The Lady Saren and her maid Dashti are locked in a tower for seven years, because Saren wouldn't marry the man her father chose for her.

Summary: On her first day as a lady's maid, Dashti chooses to endure confinement with the Lady Saren. Saren is to be locked in a tower for seven years, as punishment for refusing the man her father has chosen for her to marry. Though they are locked away from the world, Dashti and the Lady Saren have food and supplies enough to last. Dashti tries to keep Lady Saren's spirits up, and she keeps a journal of their time in the tower. Then the girls get two visitors. One is the man Saren would like to marry, and the other is the man her father had chosen. In both cases, Saren makes Dashti pretend to be her, to speak to the men through the small opening in the wall of the tower. Saren and Dashti eventually break free of the tower, but the land they knew is gone, replaced by scorched fields of war. Dashti leads Saren on a quest for answers.

Genre: audiobook, action, book, fairy tale, family, fantasy, fiction, friends, love story, identity, royalty, war

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Another fantastic adaptation of a lesser-known fairy tale by Shannon Hale.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Shannon Hale already has a strong following of tween readers, for her books The Goose Girl and The Princess Academy, among others. Her fans will be anxious to get her hands on this books as well.

Readalikes :

• Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock
• Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
  

Other Useful Info:

• Shannon Hale's Website

Reviews:
from Booklist

The author of the Newbery Honor Book Princess Academy (2005) offers another captivating fantasy filled with romance, magic, and strong female characters. The story, based on a little-known fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, takes place in an imagined ancient Central Asia. Orphaned Dashti is a hardworking, pragmatic girl, who grew up in the open, windswept steppes. She finds work in the city with a young noblewoman, Lady Saren. Then Lady Saren refuses an advantageous marriage, and as punishment, she and Dashti are sentenced to seven years in a sealed tower. A tiny window is the tower’s only connection to the outside world, and it’s there that Saren’s two suitors, the terrifying Khasar and the handsome Tegus, come calling. Written in diary form in Dashti’s voice, the gripping tale follows the two young women through their imprisonment and their escape into a grim world of warring societies. Readers will quickly embrace Dashti, an invincible storybook heroine with a healer’s touch, who accomplishes battlefield heroics while nurturing a powerful, secret love for a lord. Fans of Gail Carson Levin’s Fairest (2006) will embrace this similar mix of exotic, fully realized setting; thrilling, enchanted adventure; and heart-melting romance.

— Gillian Engberg

Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock

Murdock, C. (2008). Princess Ben. (p. 344). Houghton Mifflin.

ISBN:0618959718

Price :$16.00 hardback

Reader's Annotation: Benevolence never wanted to be a princess, but when her parents were killed she became the unwilling heir to the throne.

Summary: Princess Benevolence led a fairly quiet life. She and her parents lived in town, rather than at the castle, and she stayed out of the way of the court. Until the day her parents and the king were all killed by assassins. Ben moved into the castle and under the watchful eye of her Aunt Sophia, who is determined to turn the grieving Ben into a "proper" princess, and a puppet monarch. Sophia has ideas about Ben's demeanor and her figure, and her methods are harsh. Then Ben discovers a secret room off behind her own tower prison. Inside there is a spell book, and Ben begins to study magic. Ultimately, Ben will have to use all her royal skills, and her unroyal skills, to save her kingdom.

Genre: book, fairy tale, fantasy, fiction, family, love story, magic, war

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This is a good modern fairy tale with a spunky heroine. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't end up loving this book as much as I loved Dairy Queen and The Off Season, but it was still a good read.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: A new generation of princess stories, with smart girls and magic, has been a hit with tween readers. This one will be no exception.

Readalikes :

• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• The Goose Girl or The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (for older readers)
  

Other Useful Info:

• Catherine Murdock's Website

Reviews:

from Young Adults Books Central

A Bewitching Tale
a review by Ed Goldberg

In this fairytale, fifteen-year-old Princess Ben’s mother and her uncle, the King, are killed while on their annual trip to visit her grandfather’s tomb. Her father disappears and his whereabouts are unknown. It was assumed that Drachensbett, the neighboring country, is involved in the attack as they have been trying to annex Montagne for centuries. Ben is immediately moved from her small home into the castle and, under the tutelage of the Queen Regent Sophia, she begins to learn what it takes to be a queen…or rather what it takes to attract a potential husband who would make a good strategic alliance for Montagne. This involves comportment, dancing, table manners befitting royalty (i.e. eating very little and carrying on meaningless conversation). Unfortunately, her round figure and rebellious attitude frighten away most promising suitors.

Ben was used to running free while her parents were alive; used to a very loving family. The castle and its inhabitants are cold, bossy, clammy and totally uninviting. She doesn’t want a husband. She wants to do something important. After a particularly rebellious dinner, Queen Sophia has enough and decides to teach Ben a lesson. Ben is removed from her luxurious bedroom suite, moved to a tiny room at the top of a long, round stairway of stone and forced to sleep on a bed of straw. She is at the uppermost point of the highest tower in Chateau de Montagne. Hopefully her bleak surroundings will cause some introspection.

The walls in Chateau de Montagne are made of thick stone and each room has an antechamber two to three feet wide. Unintentionally, Ben finds that these thick walls hide secret stairwells, one of which leads to a room equipped for a witch, complete with a book of spells. Ben becomes intrigued and begins studying witchcraft every chance she gets. It is with this magic that Ben will fulfill her goal of doing something important.

Murdock, author of Dairy Queen and The Off Season, two excellent books, has written another winner in Princess Ben. The characters are marvelous. The story is exciting. The action is captivating. The writing is superb and descriptive. Readers will love Princess Ben and root for her to triumph and become the queen she is destined to be. Catherine Gilbert Murdock is one of my favorite writers and Princess Ben reminds me of another of my favorite writers, Shannon Hale, author of Princess Academy, Goose Girl, and Book of a Thousand Days. You will want to read Princess Ben in one sitting, it’s that good.

Aquamarine

Allen, E. (2006). Aquamarine. DVD, 20th Century Fox.

ASIN: B000FCW15A
$14.98

Viewer's Annotation: Claire and Hailey agree to help a mermaid find someone to fall in love with her in just three days.

Summary: Best friends Claire and Hailey are crushed, as Hailey is scheduled to move to Australia in five days. They make a wish for a miracle to keep them together. What they get is a mermaid tossed into their swimming pool by a freak storm. Aquamarine, the mermaid, has struck a deal with her father. If she can prove the existence of love in three days, she doesn't have to marry them merman her father has chosen for her. Aquamarine offers Claire and Hailey a wish, if they will help her find someone to fall in love with her over the next three days.

Genre: movie, fairy tale, family, fantasy, friends, love story

Series : This movie is not part of a series, but it is loosely based on a novel by Alice Hoffman with the same title.

Evaluation: A lighthearted movie that will provide entertainment, if not enlightenment.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: All three of the actresses in this movie will be familiar to tweens, and that alone would be a draw. Combine the big names with a fairy tale love story, and you've got a winning combination. Probably bound to be a slumber party classic.

Watchalikes :

• Nancy Drew
• The Prince and Me
  

Other Useful Info:

• IMDB page for Aquamarine
  

Reviews:
from the Boston Globe
She lives in the sea, but still needs a hunk
By Wesley Morris 03/03/2006

I'm not a lust-ridden 'tween-age girl, but if I were and a mermaid happened to find her way into my swimming pool, the last thing I'd do is take her shopping and let her steal the boy of my dreams. But I'm catty and shallow. The two best friends in "Aquamarine" are sweet and fair. So when the bubbly Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) winds up in a Florida beach town after a storm, Claire (Emma Roberts, who's Eric's daughter and Julia's niece) and Hailey (the pop singer known as JoJo) try to give her what she wants. Love. Of course, at sundown Aqua's legs turn back into a tail, which means she doesn't have much time to find it.

According to Aqua, her father plans to marry her off to a merman she doesn't love. Dad doesn't believe love exists. She insists it does, and daddy gives her three days to prove it. The boy she picks is Raymond (Jake McDorman), the same permanently shirtless lifeguard Hailey and Claire have been wanting all summer. But if they help a mermaid, they get a wish, and since Hailey is about to move to Australia, they enlist in Project Love and plan to use their wish to stay together.

If I were these two I'd be wishing for filmmaking better than the ABC Family Channel stuff they've got. But 12-year-old girls won't care that some of the overdubbed dialogue in "Aquamarine" makes it seem like a lesser work of Italian neorealism. (The ones who do should write me. I might know some 13-year-old nerds who'd love to watch "Open City" with you.)

Most girls will just be pleased that Alice Hoffman's book has been faithfully adapted, that Roberts has inherited the family's good dental work, that Paxton is like Reese Witherspoon with a tail, and that JoJo is playing someone other than the underage vixen she does in her PG music videos. The town vamp is Cecilia (Arielle Kebbel), the dangerously tan, Mandy Moore-monster who is also in pursuit of Raymond. (He's the only boy in town worth wanting.) Girls will hate her, but if the intended audience is anything like Claire and Hailey, they will come to feel sorry for her, too.

"Aquamarine" is part "Splash" and part "Clueless" (when that dressing-room montage comes hurtling toward you, duck). But girls will know "Aquamarine" is unique because it's the rare movie that fiercely respects the altruistic loyalty that bonds girls to one another. Cute boys Hasselhoffing in slow motion on the sand come and go, but a best friend is forever.

The Prince and Me

Coolidge, M. (2004). The Prince and Me. DVD, Paramount.

ASIN: B00029NLGO
$9.98 widescreen dvd edition

Viewer's Annotation: Paige Morgan, farm girl from Wisconsin who wants to be a doctor, unknowingly falls for the Prince of Denmark.

Summary: A Cinderella remake, of sorts, this story features Paige Morgan, a junior in college, who has her life and career planned down to the last detail. She wants to be a doctor and see the world traveling with Doctors without Borders. Edvard, the Prince of Denmark, is not ready or capable of settling down to take up his kingly duties. After seeing a commercial for "Girls Gone Wild: America's Heartland" he decides to enroll at a college in Wisconsin. He falls for Paige, and learns a bit more about being a grown up. She falls for him, and learns to accept a little bit of the unexpected in her life. Then she finds out that he's the Prince of Denmark.

Genre: movie, family, fairy tale, love story

Series : This movie has two sequels, "The Prince and Me 2" and "The Prince and Me 3."

Evaluation: This isn't a fantastic film, and the plot is certainly predictable, but that's okay. Julia Stiles is great, and the story is heartwarming enough. There is a "Girls Gone Wild" commercial and a bit of drinking, and one college junior talks briefly about having sex with an older man, so this is probably not a good film for the younger tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: While all the characters are in college, this movie will resonate more with tween viewers than with teens, I'd expect. The sweetness, and the familiarity of the plot will probably bore older teens. But the dresses and the romance will appeal to tween viewers. Though I was fairly worried as the movie drew to it's close, at the end, Paige does make some mature decisions about her future.

Watchalikes :

• The Princess Diaries
  
• Ice Princess
  

Other Useful Info:

• IMDB page for The Prince and Me
  

Reviews:
from commonsensemedia.org

What's the story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

THE PRINCE AND ME stars Julia Stiles as Paige Morgan, a serious and hard-working pre-med college student who has her whole life literally mapped out. She has a map of the world with pins showing all of the places she wants to visit after she completes her medical training and joins Doctors Without Borders. Luke Mably plays Edvard, the heir to the Danish crown. His life is also planned for him, but he is not the one who made the plans. He wants to postpone the inevitable by having as much fun as possible before he has to take on the responsibilities of the life he was born to. He secretly enrolls in college in Wisconsin, incognito as "Eddie," a foreign exchange student. Once he meets Paige, Edvard learns what it is like to have to earn respect and affection -- and money -- and Paige learns what it is like to listen to her heart and use her imagination. They each get to explore the other's family and culture. He races a souped-up riding lawnmower in Wisconsin farm country and she stays in a castle and goes to a ball. But falling in love is easy; finding a way to make their dreams and responsibilities fit together is not.

Is it any good?

3 stars

The title says it all. This is a classic Cinderella story about a hardworking girl from the Wisconsin dairy farm who wants to go to medical school but falls for a handsome and charming foreign exchange student who happens to be a prince in disguise. Does the course of true love run smooth? Not at first. Do they live happily ever after? What do you think?

Director Martha Coolidge has a sensitive touch in dealing with young female characters. She and Stiles do their best to make Paige more than the typical romantic comedy heroine. Mably shows some ease and charm as Eddie, who describes that other Danish prince, Hamlet, as though he is talking about himself: "The prince was young and scared and didn't feel ready for the choices he had to make." All of that helps to make up for a weak script that is too often too silly and too seldom original. By the time we have to sit through a scene of Paige trying on all the Crown jewels, they have long since run out of ideas.

Howl's Moving Castle

Miyazaki, H., Dempsey, R., & Docter, P. (2006). Howl's Moving Castle. DVD, Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
ASIN: B000CDGVOE
$29.99

Viewer's Annotation: To break a spell that makes her appear old, Sophie leaves her life at the hat shop and seeks help from the dreaded Wizard Howl.

Summary: Based on the book by Diana Wynne Jones, this adaptation was created by Hayao Miyazaki, who is well known for movies such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. While the movie takes some surprising detours from the book, the heart of the story is the same. Sophie feels nothing excitng will ever happen to her, because she is the eldest of three sisters, and she thinks she is quite plain. She falls under a spell cast by the Witch of the Waste, that makes her appear to be old, though she is still in her teen years. Unable to tell anyone what has happened, she sets off to find help. She ends up in the mobile castle of the evil Wizard Howl. Here she finds friends, in the wizards young apprentice and the resident fire demon. After working as Howl's cleaning lady for awhile, she also begins to learn some things about the wizard. To break her own curse, she must find a way to help her new friends.

Genre: movie, adventure, coming of age, fairy tale, fantasy, friends, identity, love story, magic,

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Even people who haven't read the book will enjoy the action and heart in this charming story. There's really something for everyone in this film.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This film has several "built in" audiences. Tweens who've read the book will want to see it. Fans of Miyazaki will want to see it. Families looking for something for all ages will want it. More than likely, you'll want to have two copies in your collection.

Watchalikes :

• Whale Rider
• Nausicaa, of the Valley of the Wind
  

Other Useful Info:

• IMDB page for Howl's Moving Castle
  
• Long review on Slate.com
  

Reviews:

A-

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for Entertainment Weekly

There's no confusing the wizards and goblins who populate the dazzling animated adventure Howl's Moving Castle with their relatives from Harry Potter's branch of the wiz biz. The conjurer named Howl — part romantic human dreamboat who fancies emerald earrings and tight pants, part massive bird — may be voiced with whispery gravity, in the English-language version, by Christian Bale (soon to be whispering gravely as Batman). But the worldview, the sense of childlike fun shaded with adult melancholy, and the joyful, serene attention to visual oddity and wordless beauty could only be made in Japan. And, specifically, made by Hayao Miyazaki.

When the peerless master of hand-drawn animation last cavorted with the supernatural, in Spirited Away, the director unfurled his marvelous tale from the perspective of a child, true to the real fears and equally real thrills experienced by a little girl learning how to separate from her parents. With Howl's, Miyazaki brings the wisdom of his 64 years to a story, dense with complications, about a workaholic teenage hatmaker named Sophie who comes into a true appreciation of love, passion, playfulness, and even politics, as well as of her own beauty, only after she is transformed by an evil spell into a stooped and wrinkled 90-year-old woman. (Long story short, Sophie's meet-cute encounter with Howl on a city street irks the jealous Witch of the Waste, a mountainous matron of a competitor for Howl's affections. This sorceress boasts the look of Marx Brothers regular Margaret Dumont and the imperious, Fancy Feast voice of Lauren Bacall.)

In other words, maturity is achieved working backward from experienced seniority rather than forward from wide-eyed youth. And in moments of developmental breakthrough, the young Sophie reemerges out of the contours of the old one. (Emily Mortimer voices young Sophie with a combination of Cinderella pluck and Notting Hill class; Jean Simmons gives old Sophie a lovable layering of tolerance and self-confidence.)

But enough about developmental psychology — how about that humongous castle?! Howl's mobile home heaves and clanks around the countryside (a landscape of indeterminate Euro provenance, over which a war of indeterminate provocation is about to be fought against an indeterminate enemy) on intrepid mechanized feet that appear to be part steel, part chicken. The fixer-upper is cobbled together from a million wheezing parts, the whole thing running on flames from a combustible blob named Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal). And naturally the ambulatory domicile is accepted by the populace as part of the regular way of doing things. Because, unlike the Muggles-vs.-Hogwarts crowd, the inhabitants of Miyazaki's enchanted universe understand that spirits are as much a part of everyday life as the fishmongers and soldiers and airplanes crowding the confines of the movie frame in set-piece scenes of spectacular detail.

And curses happen, many of them cast by Madame Suliman (Blythe Danner), resident magician and foreign-policy meddler in service to the king. A surfeit of mishaps and catastrophes accrue, requiring bravery along with a very Asian sense of acceptance. Unlikely alliances are made, primarily among squatters in the moving castle itself, as old Sophie's competence and unflappability work their own kind of domestic magic; even a barkless dog has his day, providing sweet diversionary canine silliness during times of darkest heroic crisis. As Howl's Moving Castle makes ravishingly clear, coming into one's own is the most heroic — and magical — experience of all.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Jones, D. W. (2001). Howl's Moving Castle (p. 336). Eos.

ISBN: 006441034X

$6.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Sophie upsets a witch, who turns her into an old lady, and she seeks help from a wizard to get back to her true form.

Summary: Sophie doesn't expect much excitement in her life, because she is the oldest of her siblings, and interesting things don't happen to oldest siblings. She settles into a life of hat making, while her sisters are apprenticed to more exciting careers. But it is in the hatmaker's shop that Sophie runs into a witch, who, displeased with the service, turns Sophie into an old woman. Sophie cannot tell anyone who she really is, or explain the curse. She leaves the hat shop and ends up at Howl's Moving Castle, the home of the local wizard with an unpleasant reputation. Once there, Sophie makes a deal with the fire demon, that if she will help him, he will change her back. Life at Howl's Castle is unusual, but not unpleasant, and Sophie manages to have several adventures, even though she is the oldest of her sisters.

Genre: book, adventure, coming of age, fairy tale, family, fantasy, fiction, identity, love story, magic, siblings

Series : The sequel to this book is "The Castle in the Air."

Evaluation: A classic sort of fantasy story with an unexpected ending. The middle sections of the book may prove challenging for slower readers, but the payoff at the end is worthwhile.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Robin McKinley has written many fine books with strong girl characters and this is right up there with her classics. Her stories often advocate determined study to solve problems, and trial and error processes. Nobody has told Mirasol how to solve her problems, she has to try different things until she gets it right, and she has to trust her instinct. A good selection for fantasy readers. Also, like other McKinley classics, Chalice is full of animals helping the heroine. Bees and horses in this case.

Readalikes :

• Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
• The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
  
• Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
  

Other Useful Info:

• Diana Wynne Jones' Website
  

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up Sophie Hatter reads a great deal and soon realizes that as the eldest of three daughters she is doomed to an uninteresting future. She resigns herself to making a living as a hatter and helping her younger sisters prepare to make their fortunes. But adventure seeks her out in the shop where she sits alone, dreaming over her hats. The wicked Witch of the Waste, angered by "competition" in the area, turns her into a old woman, so she seeks refuge inside the strange moving castle of the wizard Howl. Howl, advertised by his apprentice as an eater of souls, lives a mad, frantic life trying to escape the curse the witch has placed on him, find the perfect girl of his dreams and end the contract he and his fire demon have entered. Sophie, against her best instincts and at first unaware of her own powers, falls in love. So goes this intricate, humorous and puzzling tale of fantasy and adventure which should both challenge and involve readers. Jones has created an engaging set of characters and found a new use for many of the appurtenances of fairy talesseven league boots and invisible cloaks, among others. At times, the action becomes so complex that readers may have to go back to see what actually happened, and at the end so many loose ends have to be tied up at once that it's dizzying. Yet Jones' inventiveness never fails, and her conclusion is infinitely satisfying.

Chalice by Robin McKinley

McKinley, R. (2008). Chalice (p. 272). Putnam Juvenile.

ISBN: 0399246762

$18.99 hardback

Reader's Annotation: An untrained Chalice and a barely human Master must work together to save their land from a determined Overlord who would rule in their place.

Summary: Mirasol has been made the Chalice of Willowlands, though her previous life has only prepared her for beekeeping and woodscraft. She is deeply connected her land, though, and determined to succeed, though she has no one to tell her how a Chalice's magic should work. To add to her troubles, Willowlands has been badly managed by the previous Master, who died when the previous Chalice died. The new master is an elemental priest, called back to humanity and Willowlands from the burning fires of his order. Though both the Master and Marisol are untrained and lack the confidence of their people, they strive to save Willowlands from being taken over by the Overlord, who would add to his own power by setting up a puppet Master in place of the rightful heir.

Genre: book, fairy tale, fantasy, identity, love story, magic,

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Another great story by Robin McKinley, Chalice is a slow-starter, and heavy on the history and politics of the world of Mirasol the beekeeper. This is a good choice for someone who can stick with a book with plenty of backstory.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Robin McKinley has written many fine books with strong girl characters and this is right up there with her classics. Her stories often advocate determined study to solve problems, and trial and error processes. Nobody has told Mirasol how to solve her problems, she has to try different things until she gets it right, and she has to trust her instinct. A good selection for fantasy readers. Also, like other McKinley classics, Chalice is full of animals helping the heroine. Bees and horses in this case.

Readalikes :

• Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
  

Other Useful Info:

• Robin McKinley's Website
  

Reviews:

Kirkus Reviews

This may not be Innisfree, but Yeats would recognize the "bee-loud glade" within its pages. McKinley's latest depicts vividly a rural world rooted in the earth and its powers-forces that are regulated by the concerted efforts of an estate Master, his Chalice and their Circle of advisors. In this world, the role of the estate Chalice is to provide balance to the earthlines and to bind Master and Circle to serve the land. Mirasol, a beekeeper, has assumed this role on an estate that's been driven to the verge of destruction by its former Master and his weak Chalice-with a new Master who is no longer fully human. McKinley is a master of fantasy writing: Elegant prose and lyrical descriptions capture reader interest while an increasingly tense plot maintains it. Primary characters, especially Mirasol and the new Master, are limned with care. The narrative's climax and resolution are satisfying and not at all pat. This tale will go down with fans like a spoonful of honey while attracting new readers to McKinley's previous works. (Fantasy. 12 & up)