The Wandering Princess - A New Fairy Tale (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798633854053)

The princess saves the day and fantasy creatures that are not quite who you'd expect in this funny and off-beat fairy tale world.

After her father loses his kingdom, Princess Savanah is content to wander from town to town selling her inventions until she spends reaches a mysterious village called the Hollow. All of the townspeople are too busy leaving out food and shutting themselves in for the night to speak with her, but she meets the self-described Manfred the Pretty Good Fairy. Manfred explains that although he's the guardian of the Dark Forest, he can't perform much magic since losing most of the pages from his spell book. He tells her the people of the Hollow leave out food and hide from a creature that visits the village each night. Savanah never sees the creature but does talk to a mysterious pair of eyes who speaks in riddles and seems to know her.

The following morning, the villagers are astonished to find her safe and sound and the Baron of the village summons Savanah to a feast to celebrate her bravery. Between bites of food, he implores her to travel to the Cinder Mountains and confront the creature harassing his village. Intrigued and reminded of her father's misfortunes, Savanah decides to take up the quest and convinces Manfred to accompany her. Manfred reluctantly agrees to go along, with the hope that they may be able to find some of his spell pages along the way.

In order to reach the Cinder Mountains, Savanah and Manfred must travel through the Dark Forest, across the Lake of ages and over the Middle Valley. Along the way, they have to face off with a witch who can't get her spells quite right, outsmart a cantankerous fish that wants to eat them and solve the pointless riddles of the Bridge Troll. The pair also make some new friends and gain some new allies. And upon reaching their destination, they discover things just may not be as they seem in the Hollow or the mountains.

The Wandering Princess books feature a strong female lead character not bound by the traditional roles and relationships that we've come to expect from a fairy tale princess. Readers will find a balance of satire and wisdom, humor and adventure that appeals to all ages. The books are dialog driven and divided into easy-to-read chapters, similar to episodes within a television series.

It's easy to squeeze in a chapter or two during lunch or other break. The Wandering Princess series also offers a bridge between illustrated chapter books and longer literature.