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Curse of the Thirteenth Fey: The True Tale of Sleeping Beauty

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Curse of the Thirteenth Fey: The True Tale of Sleeping Beauty

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Overview

You think you know the story of Sleeping Beauty, but the real story is far more spellbinding…

Gorse is the thirteenth and youngest in a family of fairies tied to the evil king’s land and made to do his bidding. When accident-prone Gorse falls ill just as the family is bid to bless the new princess, a fairytale starts to unfold. Sick as she is, Gorse races to the castle with the last piece of magic the family has left—a piece of the Thread of Life. But that is when accident, mayhem, and magic combine to drive Gorse’s story into the unthinkable, threatening the baby and the kingdom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101591512
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/08/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Lexile:	880L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Jane Yolen has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of American storytellers. She's written more than 300 books and has won numerous awards for her writing. She lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and Saint Andrews, Scotland.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A graceful and absorbing look at a familiar villain."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Inventive spin on Sleeping Beauty."
—Publishers Weekly

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Yolen follows her Snow White retelling, Snow in Summer (2011), with a similarly inventive spin on Sleeping Beauty (like that book, this novel also derives from one of the author’s short stories). Half elf, half fey, Gorse is the youngest of 13, and as such, she is the last to learn of the oath that ties her family to the kingdom and requires them to do Royal Biddings, under penalty of bursting into a thousand stars. When Gorse is 13 years old, a Bidding comes down to bestow blessings on the newborn princess, Talia. Rushing to get to the castle, Gorse falls into a magical trap, and so begins an adventure that eventually results in her delivering an accidental gift to the princess. Yolen’s trademark humor is apparent throughout (“He clearly never met a comma or period he liked,” Gorse remarks after her family receives the king’s Bidding), and while the story takes some time getting started, as Gorse shares stories of family history and magical mishaps, that by no means detracts from its many pleasures. Ages 10–up. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A graceful and absorbing look at a familiar villain."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Inventive spin on Sleeping Beauty."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Gr 7–10—In this imaginative retelling, the jealous, overlooked fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty is recast as a sickly, bookish teenager. Thirteen-year-old Gorse belongs to the Shouting Fey, a clan of mischievous fairies with powerful voices. In a subversive departure from the original tale in which benevolent fairies bestow gifts at the infant's christening, Yolen portrays the relationship between the royal family and the Shouting Fey as downright feudal. Tied to their land by an ancient oath, the Fey are compelled to perform spells at the whim of their capricious monarchs. On the day of the christening, Gorse rushes to the palace only to fall down a hole into a cave where she discovers two fey princes who have been banished for years, as well as revelations about her family's past. The frequent references to fairy lore are occasionally overwhelming; however, Yolen has crafted an intricate world full of well-developed characters. The incantations that the fey often invoke ("Blow and sow/This fertile ground/Until the knot/Be all unwound") add a lyrical quality to the elegant prose. Readers who typically prefer fairy-tale retellings, such as those by Donna Jo Napoli or Robin McKinley, may be put off because the plot largely revolves around Gorse's escape from the cave rather than Sleeping Beauty herself, but fans of more unconventional fantasy adaptations, such as Gregory Maguire's Wicked (HarperCollins, 1995), will enjoy seeing an antagonist receive a rich, compelling backstory.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

School Library Journal