A Book of Princes and Princesses

by Ruth Manning-Sanders

1. Niassa and the Ogre Once upon a time there were two royal children, a little prince called Maran, and a little princess, his siser, called Niassa. And they went out with some other children to play. Now there was a horrible, horrible ogre who had his eye on princess Niassa; he wanted to catch her and keep her, and make her his wife when she was old enough.... (from the 1st chapter).

Genres: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Childrens, Short Stories

128 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1969

About the author

Ruth Manning-Sanders, youngest daughter of an English minister, describes her childhood as “extraordinarily happy. . . with kind and understanding parents and any amount of freedom.” She read omnivorously, and she and her two sisters wrote and acted their own plays. A Shakespeare scholar at Manchester University, she later married Cornish artist George Manning-Sanders. They began married life in a horse drawn caravan, and traveled to all parts of the British Isles.
Mrs. Manning-Sanders has collected folk and fairy stories from around the world and she published more than 90 books during her lifetime.

Reviews

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I say in every review for this author, Ruth Manning-Sanders has done it again! This was an excellent collection of stories and one that I would highly recommend to readers of all ages!

My favorite tales included: "The Enchanted Prince", "The Frog", and "Princess Felicity".

[llv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars

I would have given this 5 stars if it had been formatted correctly. It was a bit hard to read because a lot of the words were run together likethis. Still, I loved this book has a child and still loved it today.

[Seth Lease · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book #5 out of my 30 books in 30 days is done.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grew up on a fair number of Ruth Manning-Sanders fairy tale collections. Nicely told for children with good illustrations.

Not all the tale have both a prince and a princess. One even features one of the two good stepsisters in fairy tales I have seen. And there are none of the best known tales. So you have a girl rescuing a prince from a haunted room; a frog princess; a prince rescuing his sister from an ogre. One, "Rags and Tatters" struck me as weak, but I think that's because I've read a better retelling.  Includes the country sources but no more.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

So annoyed with myself for leaving this behind at a bookstore this afternoon! I was in a hurry, and worried about lack of space, but of course, I regret it now as her collections are always outstanding. Curses!

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

read

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection with some new tales I hadn't previously read.