Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Aliyander throws a frog against the wall.  Liam is slapped and there is blood.  Men from a hunting party come home crazy or go missing.  The cruelties of war are touched on.  Faeries steal children from their homes.

Synopsis

In this book is a collection of four short fairy tales.  Two retellings and two original stories.  In the first story, Stolen Princess, is a kingdom in which children are stolen away by faeries on their 17^th birthdays.  Will Princess Linadel be next?

In the second book, The Princess and the Frog, we find Rana, anxious to free herself and her brother from the evil grips of Prince Aliyander.  Little does she know that help will come in the form of a frog!

The third story, The Hunting of the Hind, is about a bewitchingly beautiful, mystical creature who many men try to catch, but always fail.  These men come home either crazed or not at all.  Princess Korah’s brother is one who tried to catch the hind.  She sets out on a journey to save him and break the spell that binds him to madness.

Twelve Dancing Princesses is the final story in which the princesses have been enspelled to dance every night, all night.  The soles of their shoes are worn through and they are so weary.  Is there no one who can save them and break the enchantment that binds them to another world in dance?

This is a harmless, easy read.  All the stories have happily-ever-after endings, which is just what we love in a fairy tale.  I would agree with the recommended reading level of 4^th-8^th grade.  My daughter read this in 6^th grade and said it was okay.  Not her favorite read, but not bad either.  I would agree with her.