Lauren is not happy when her father announces that their family is moving to a new house a couple of miles from their old neighborhood. Her father works in real estate and wants to have his own office in their home. Their old house wasn’t big enough, so he found a new house for them.
Lauren hates the new house because it’s old and looks like a haunted house on tv. Plus, she’s afraid that she won’t see her friends as much because she’ll be living farther away from them. Her friends try to cheer her up by pointing out that she’ll have a swimming pool in her backyard and will be living down the street from one of the cutest boys in school, but nothing seems to help.
Then, Lauren learns that one of her new neighbors may be a princess from another country. The girls hear that a young princess, Marina, from the European country of Osterburg has lost her parents in a car accident and is coming to live in their town with her American aunt and uncle. The only picture they’ve seen of the princess is blurry, but it looks a little like the young girl, Maya, living next door to Lauren in her new neighborhood. Stephanie suggests to Lauren that she try to find out more about the girl because if she is really a princess it would make a great story for their school newspaper. At first, Lauren is doubtful, but then she overhears something that makes her think otherwise.
Things in Lauren’s neighborhood might not be quite what they seem at first, but her friends find some creative ways to help her adjust to her new house and learn ways of dealing with change, like keeping busy. In the end, although Lauren is still getting used to her new house, she is happy because there are some good points about it, and she knows that her friends will still be there for her.
Robert is the son of a fisherman in a small village by the sea. All his life, he’s grown up hearing stories of a mysterious City to the south that was fashioned ages ago from a silver tree. Wondrous things are said to happen there. People from the City used to visit the Witch Women in Robert’s village for advice, but no one has come there from the City in a long time, and people now doubt whether the City really exists. People have even stopped believing in the Witch Women. However, Robert believes in the old stories, and he wants desperately to see the City for himself.
The stories say that someday the Witch King will come to the City and plant a seed so that a new tree will grow. Robert wants to see this story come true, and Granny Fishbone, a strange old woman who tells Robert the old stories, says that the time of the Witch King is close. She gives him a pendant in the shape of a fish and tells him that it came from the City and that it is time for Robert to take it back there.
With some misgivings, Robert’s family lets him set off on his seemingly crazy quest of finding the City. To Robert’s surprise, he is met on the road by the Royal Wizard of the City. As Granny Fishbone said, the time of the Witch King is near, and there is trouble in the City. The Spell that controls the City is failing, and the King has been seeking a remedy for the problem.
The City has become corrupt because a usurper murdered the rightful king years ago and took over the City. He had his wizards cast a spell on the City that let him control everything in it, and he manipulated historical accounts to make it seem as though he was the founder of the City himself. Robert knows differently because Granny Fishbone is really one of the Witch Women, and she told him the true story about the miraculous tree and the founding of the City. The king’s grandson, David, is also corrupt and wants to learn to control the spell over the City for his own power. He believes that he is the prophesied Witch King, and he tries to convince Robert of it so that he will help him.
When Robert learns that David’s plans for controlling the spell may mean sacrificing his own sister, Princess Sophie, who Robert loves, Robert does his best to thwart his plans by telling the king and the Royal Wizard. Although David at first seems to have the upper hand, he is not the true Witch King. Granny Fishbone was correct that the time of the true Witch King has come, and Robert has a much bigger role to play in the story than he thinks. As the ancient prophesy says, the City will have to be destroyed in order to be saved.
Laura and Bill are visiting their Uncle Joe, who is the caretaker of a large hotel in New Hampshire. The hotel is closed for the winter because it is too old and poorly-insulated to heat. The children think that the big, old hotel is fascinating, especially when they begin hearing stories about the ghost of a princess who is said to haunt the hotel and put people under her spell to do her bidding. It’s just the sort of thing that Laura reads about in her favorite series of mystery books, and she’d love the chance to investigate something like the heroine, Gwen Gilderstar.
Bill rolls his eyes at Laura’s melodramatic mystery obsession, but then the children begin noticing that their uncle is behaving strangely, and they start to wonder if he is under the princess’s spell. When they first arrived, their uncle told them that his sister, their Aunt Gigi, had gone away to visit a sick friend. Then, Laura overhears him talking to Gigi on the phone, saying that she and her brother and parents went out to dinner, so she can’t talk to them. Later, Laura gets the chance to talk to Aunt Gigi and finds out that she only went to visit her friend because Joe insisted and that her friend isn’t sick. What is going on? Why would her uncle lie? Is he under the princess’s spell?
Laura and Bill see mysterious lights and a shadowy figure in the windows of the closed hotel. Could that be the ghost of the princess? Even though their parents have forbidden them to go inside the old hotel, the kids go there to investigate. They hear organ music and a woman laughing, and they find a red rose on the floor, just like the roses in the portrait of the princess. Then, Bill catches a glimpse of the princess in the elevator, carrying a silver axe! Laura is determined to solve the mystery, just like Gwen Gilderstar. She’s afraid, but she knows that she has to do something for her uncle’s sake.
My Reaction
I loved this book when I was a kid because it’s a fun mystery. Laura is a girl after my own heart, who loves mystery stories in the classic girl detective style. “Gwen Gilderstar” seems to be a character similar to Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, or other girl detective characters. Because of her taste in books, Laura looks at everything that happens through the lens of a spooky mystery story, initially not seeing the more practical explanations for the things happening around her. Although the setting of the book, a seemingly haunted hotel that’s closed for the winter season, reminds me of The Shining, the actual plot reminds me more of Northanger Abbey, the classic book by Jane Austen about a girl with an active imagination and a taste for frightening stories.
Jennifer never remembers her dreams, so she doesn’t think that she’ll be able to complete the essay that her teacher assigned them to write: My Strangest Dream. While she’s worrying about not being able to finish her homework, she dozes off on the school bus on her way to school.
Suddenly, Jennifer finds herself in a beautiful carriage being driven through a dark forest. Jennifer is happy that she’s apparently going to have a dream that she can write about, so she decides to enjoy it as much as possible, trying on the beautiful gown, cloak, and jewelry that she finds in the carriage with her. Eventually, the carriage stops at a huge palace, and Jennifer comes to the realization that the carriage never had a driver.
She is greeted by Duke Rinaldo, the Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom of Eladeria. Jennifer is informed that she is Princess Miranda, the king’s adopted daughter. Actually, Jennifer is the seventh of the king’s “daughters.” There were six others before her . . . and their fates are unknown.
This is no ordinary dream. The king of Eladeria is ill, possibly bewitched. The king’s son is missing. There is treachery in the palace. People live in terror of the evil enchantress Swenhild and her harpies. Soon, they will demand a tribute: a golden-haired princess with blue eyes . . . like Jennifer, er, Princess Miranda!
The only one who seems to want to help Jennifer is her new friend, Samson the dwarf, who is the palace’s court jester. He introduces her to his friend, Prospero, who can do magic and understands more of what’s happening than most people. He tells her that her only hope is to find the Paladian Scroll and use its power. Can Jennifer and Samson find this mysterious scroll in time? It might still be possible to save the other princesses, but Jennifer worries about whether she’ll ever wake up in her own world again.
One of the things that I love about this book is how it brings in some lesser-used fantasy creatures, like the harpies, and characters, like the dwarf jester. The “was it a dream or wasn’t it” trope has been used a lot, but the adventure within the dream itself is fun, exciting, and very well-done.
“Lavender’s blue, Rosemary’s green, When you are king, I shall be queen.“
Everyone is excited when a seventh princess is born in the kingdom of Phantasmorania. Everyone knows that seventh princesses are always the luckiest and the most beautiful. Indeed, when Princess Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne is born, she is a beautiful baby who never cries and who has perfect blonde curls and blue eyes. But, when one of her fairy godmothers, Old Crustacea, comes to the christening to give her blessing and sees all the perfect presents everyone has given her and little Princess Amethyst’s six perfect older sisters, she decides, “I am going to give you something that will probably bring you more happiness than all these fal-lals and fripperies put together. You shall be Ordinary!”
Of course the king and queen are horrified, but there’s nothing to be done. From that day on, Princess Amethyst becomes an ordinary baby who grows up to be an ordinary girl. She cries when she’s hungry and tired. Her golden hair darkens from golden blonde to a mouse brown and loses its curl. She gets freckles! Sometimes, she even makes spelling mistakes!
While everyone else is distressed at Princess Amethyst’s (now called Amy most of the time) lack of perfection, Amy realizes that Old Crustacea was right about it making her happier. While her perfect sisters must behave themselves and keep their clothes clean, Princess Amy sneaks off to run and play. She meets ordinary people, makes new friends, and has fun adventures.
But, eventually, all of her sisters grow up and get married. When it’s Princess Amy’s turn, most of the princes aren’t interested because she’s not the beautiful, perfect seventh princess that she’s supposed to be. Amy would be alright with that, but when her father and his advisors come up with an outlandish scheme to attract a prince that involves a dragon, Amy decides to put a stop to it by running away.
For a time, she lives a carefree life in the forest, but eventually, like all ordinary people do, she realizes that she’s going to need money to buy new clothes. On the advice of Crustacea, she journeys to a neighboring kingdom and finds a job in the palace there as a kitchen maid.
Actually, she finds more than that, finding her place in the world and someone who loves her for the ordinary princess that she is.
The book is divided into four parts, each of them titled after a verse from a version of the old folk song Lavender’s Blue (most versions say “lavender’s green” instead of “rosemary’s green”, although I do like saying “rosemary” better – this is the tune). The book also contains many small, black-and-white illustrations alongside the text.
It is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
My Reaction
I think this is a beautiful book with a good message for girls. Being glamorous or trying to conform to someone else’s idea of perfection doesn’t bring as much happiness as knowing who you really are and finding someone who loves you and wants to live the same kind of life you do, imperfections and all. Not every “prince” out there is looking for the same type of “princess,” just the one that’s right for him. In the end, Amy finds a king who is just her kind of person.
I would dearly love to see this book in print again! It’s a charming modern fairy tale about a young princess who learns what beauty and happiness really mean.
Esmeralda is the only child of the king and queen, and she has just about everything that a girl could want. The author paints a pretty picture of Esmeralda’s charmed life at the castle and all of the beautiful things she has.
However, Esmeralda has one serious problem: she is plain. In her kingdom, in order for a girl to be considered beautiful, her nose must turn down, her mouth must turn up, and her eyes must have a twinkle in them. Esmeralda’s appearance is exactly the opposite. It is a serious problem because her plainness causes people to lose respect for her, and the prince that she is betrothed to refuses to take much of an interest in her.
Although her parents consult the finest physicians and wizards available, none of them can provide any solutions for Esmeralda’s condition. It is only after the king places an advertisement in the newspaper that a widow, Dame Goodwit, with five daughters of her own comes to the castle and offers a solution. However, she insists that Esmeralda must come and live with her family for nine months. At first, Esmeralda is distressed at leaving her home and living in much simpler circumstances that she is accustomed to, but the reasons soon become as plain as the princess herself.
As Esmeralda interacts with and becomes friends with Dame Goodwit’s daughters, Annabelle, Christabelle, Dulcibelle, Floribelle, and Echo, she comes to see herself and her old life at the castle differently. At Dame Goodwit’s, she is expected to take care of herself and her belongings by herself, for the first time in her life. She is given chores to do and becomes responsible for herself in ways that she never was before. She also comes to see that, even though Dame Goodwit’s daughters are not princesses, in many ways, they are more knowledgeable and accomplished than she is, able to do many things that Esmeralda has never even tried before. Little by little, Esmeralda learns and tries new things, even coming to enjoy her time with the family and becoming especially fond of little Echo, the youngest girl. Her new experiences change her, her behavior, her attitudes, and eventually, even the way she looks.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
My Reaction
In spite of the fairy tale atmosphere, there isn’t really any magic in the story, as the widow herself points out. The real magic of the story is in the lessons that Esmeralda learns: that beauty and change come from within and that the way we see ourselves and those around us is important. For those who might be concerned at the emphasis on “beauty” and “plainness”, it soon becomes apparent that the outward signs of beauty really stand for positive character traits: humility, pride in one’s own talents and accomplishments, and unselfish caring for other people. The book also has some very pretty illustrations, some of which are wide scenes taking up two pages. It’s a beautiful book and a beautiful story for any young girl.
I don’t think that the book was ever made into a movie, but there are multiple versions that are stage plays (the link is to a video clip from a stage version of the story), including some that are musical. I have seen a script for one of them that has added religious themes that weren’t in the original book, but the site has since been removed. I’m sure that the script still exists, I’m just not sure where to find it now. Some of the narrator’s and characters’ dialog was taken directly from the original book, but the religious parts were added. As I recall, it implied that the princess’s personality changes came through the grace of God or developed as her religious side also developed, but I can’t remember now exactly how they said it. I think it may have included some Biblical quotes related to the personality traits the princess acquires. At one point, it was the only script that I could find available for free online. There are other play versions that are available for purchase elsewhere, such as Dramatic Publishing and Steele Spring Stage Rights.
#28 Lauren’s New Address by Susan Saunders, 1990.
The Witch King by Maeve Henry, 1987.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 