Happily Ever After ANNOTATION
When a girl who loves to read fairy tales is transported back to medieval times, she finds that the life of a princess in a castle is less fun than she imagined.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
One day, while holding her treasured baseball mitt, Kate makes a wish. And poof!— she turns into a princess in a fairy tale. But being a princess isn't at all what Kate imagined. Before long, she's fighting off dragons, entertaining witches, and teaching the ladies-in-waiting how to play baseball. With Kate around, fairy tale land will never be the same again!
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Quindlen's breezy, farcical romp centers on a tomboy who loves reading fairy tales when she's not on the Little League field. When a magical baseball mitt unexpectedly grants Kate's wish to "try being a princess sometime," she suddenly finds herself sitting in a stone tower, wearing a pink dress "that laced up the front like a sneaker" and a jeweled crown. Wreaking playful havoc with stock fairytale characters and clichs, Quindlen has Kate eluding the advances of a lovestruck suitor who sings "some song about picking roses and watching beauty fade" as he ignores the approach of first an enemy knight and then a dragon (Kate fends off both). Later, the prince leaves Kate to be captured by a witch and her troll sidekick, who just want Kate to teach them some games ("We only kidnap all of you [princesses] because we're so lonely out here," they confess). Stevenson limns the proceedings in thin black-and-white cartoons of armored knights on horseback, turreted castles and bemused royals and courtiers. While this isn't an especially weighty effort, the collision between the tale's make-believe sensibility and the heroine's down-to-earth, '90s attitude and jargon results in an appealingly glib prose style that's neatly tailored to kids. Ages 7-10. (Mar.)
Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger
Kate's a tomboy who loves to play baseball. When Kate's Aunt Mary gives her a baseball glove that she had as a child, she cautions her that it is "a very, very special glove." One day when Kate is wearing the glove, she wishes she were a princess. Poof! Kate becomes one, only she's a very modern princess who is deposited in a castle complete with a knight. The ensuing story of Kate as a princess is a spoof on fairy tales, complete with hip language and a modern outcome. Written by a famous author and minimally illustrated by a well-known cartoonist, it will appeal to a young feminist with a quirky sense of humor.
School Library Journal
Kate is a fourth grader who plays shortstop for her Little League team and runs faster than anyone in her class. She also loves fairy tales. One day while reading with her Aunt Mary's "very special" baseball mitt under her pillow, Kate wishes she were a princess and is granted her wish. However, she discovers quickly that being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be: the handsome prince is rather wimpy and castle life is boring. After saving herself from the requisite dragon, witch, and black knight, Kate teaches the Ladies-in-Waiting and serving maids to play baseball and then happily returns to the present. The clever text is short and simple, subtly contrasting the different roles of a girl growing up in medieval and modern times. Kate is an insouciant and likable heroine, brought to life admirably by Stevenson's humorous illustrations. The theme is no longer new, but this is a lively and entertaining treatment. Grades 1-4. --Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Kirkus Reviews
Quindlen (for adults, One True Thing, 1994, etc.) bows with this literary confection slightly reminiscent of Jay Williams's feminist fairy tales. Kate, a star Little League shortstop, makes a wish to be a princess, unaware that the baseball glove she wishes on is magic. She abruptly finds herself dressed in uncomfortable clothes, sitting in the top room of a stone tower as men in metal suits clash outside. After wounding the ego of an inept prince by helping him vanquish a Black Knight and a dragon, Kate befriends a lonely witch, makes her way to the local castle to teach the serving maids and ladies-in-waiting how to play ball, then wishes herself back home. As a jock with a fondness for fairy tales, Kate makes a refreshing protagonist, but she is more affected by homesickness than by the creatures and situations she encounters. The other characters are cardboard, especially the men, who are either stuffy or clueless. Some amusing twists don't conceal the tale's essential thinness.
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