The Wide-Awake Princess (Wide-Awake Princess, #1)

by E D Baker

E.D. Baker pulls out all the stops in this brilliant version of a classic tale. It's a little known fact that Sleeping Beauty's younger sister, Annie, is the one who must save the day and rescue her from the evil curse. Annie is impervious to ALL magic - good and bad - and is the only one left awake when her sister pricks that finger. She sets off through the kingdom to find her sister's true love, the only person who can wake her and reverse the spell. Annie is joined by a handsome prince in disguise as she tackles Hansel and Gretel (and their witch), and many other fabulously familiar fairytale characters.


Full of Baker's trademark humour, plot twists, and with a funny and strong female lead, this will charm fans of The Frog Princess, and bring in many new ones.

• ISBN10: 1599907577
• ISBN13: 9781599907574
• Publish Date: 15 March 2011 (first published 11 May 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: http://bloomsbury.com/

Reviews

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

The Wide-Awake Princess is a cute, creative tale that turns a number of fairy-tales on their heads. To start, Annie is not Sleeping Beauty, but her ordinary sister, “blessed” to never have the benefits of magically-enhanced beauty, or embroidery, or poetry. Of course, the reader soon discovers that Annie is remarkable in her own way; all her talents have been earned through hard work, and she has the biggest heart in the kingdom.

Other fairy tales do make small cameos. For example, Annie wanders into the home of the witch from “Hansel and Gretel,” though her personality is not what one might expect. Spotting these little extras thrown into the story is a lot of fun.

The plot line is structured similarly to that in Baker’s The Frog Princess. Annie goes on a fairly straightforward quest, there and back again, and various obstacles arise in her path. Just when one is ready for her to return home with an eligible prince for Gwen, something stops her. Just when all seems lost, something pretty convenient happens. Although precisely what will happen tends to be unpredictable, there is a definite pattern to the types of events that do. Nonetheless, the pattern reads more smoothly than in The Frog Princess.

Still, Annie—and the companion she finds to help her on her quest—are endearing characters, and the variety of princes they meet is hugely entertaining. Although Annie, in a fit of pique, accuses all magically-enhanced princes of being the same, it is clear they are not. A great cast of characters in a fun setting makes The Wide-Awake Princess an enjoyable read.


This review was also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.