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The Princess Tales #4-6
The Princess Tales, Volume II
In a land far, far away . . . A boy with magical powers to win Princess Charming's heart. A fairy who likes turning humans into toads. A true love forbidden by the King. A world of fairies and magic -- what could be more perfect than that? But is it perfect enough to help a simple farm boy marry a beautiful princess? And if an unruly fairy turns a maiden into a toad, how does she turn herself back? And can a fairy -- even a helpful one -- change a stubborn king's law? Welcome to a land where Princess Charming saves the day, the prince must kiss the toads, and nothing is as it seems! Now in one volume, three hilarious chances at happily-ever-after from the Newbery Honor author of Ella Cinderellis and the Glass Hill
For Biddle's Sake
The Fairy's Return
For Biddle's Sake
The Fairy's Return
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
5 people are currently reading
622 people want to read
About the author
Gail Carson Levine
65 books9,680 followersJust letting you all know: I'm only going to review books I love. There's enough negative criticism without me piling on. A book is too hard to write.
Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and began writing seriously in 1987. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a 1790 farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and began writing seriously in 1987. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a 1790 farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
November 8, 2017
You can't really go wrong with GCL!
July 27, 2025
i love how gail carson levine writes fairy tales. the second story was my favourite, followed by the first, and i didn't really like the last one tbh. but a sweet cozy read
December 7, 2025
I love this book so so so so much
I love these short stories
Absolute cinema ✋😌🤚
I love these short stories
Absolute cinema ✋😌🤚
December 29, 2018
The stories in this collection rated lower as I read forwards. I'll review them separately (and briefly) to give my full thoughts. I had high hopes for The Princess Tales Vol. 2! It was mainly the last one that got to me, to be honest. I would still recommend for the first two, or pick them up separately, which can be done. Though of course you might like what I didn't!!
ALSO. There is one trope that seems to pop up in all three of these stories: mean older siblings. It stood out sooo strongly that it kind of bothered me by the last book (just because the older sibling thing was the motivating factor for everything). I would just suggest pausing between the tales if you think that might bother you, like it did for me by the last tale.
Cinderellis and the Glass Hill
A different take on Cinderella (but only smaller references). Ellis' two older brothers completely ignore him, no matter how hard Ellis tries to impress them. Meanwhile, the two brothers are the best of friends. Ellis wants nothing more than to join in on that special friendship. He invents growing powder, shrinking powder, etc. that help him become the best farmer around but his brothers could care les. (Gail Carson Levine's descriptions on how Ellis invents these powders were really humourous and creative.)
We then have the princess, whose father decides, "Hey, she needs a husband now! I know, the man who can get his horse to climb a glass hill and get an apple from my daughter can marry her!"
I liked this story the most. 4.5 stars Ellis' desire to be noticed by his brothers and the princess' parallel efforts to get her father's attentions were nicely developed in such a short tale. I loved their characters and they were cute together.
For Biddle's Sake
A girl named Parsley (because she will only eat Parsley) is raised by a fairy who loves to turn things into frogs. Parsley ends up turned into a frog (by accident) and tries to help a young prince claim his throne instead of his quarreling older brothers.
It didn't take me long to notice an older brother theme. I enjoyed this tale, thought not as much as Cinderellis and the Glass Hill. Parsley was a sweet, sweet girl and the morals in this story really shone through her and the young prince's friendship. 4 stars
The Fairy's Return
A princess falls in love with a baker's son (who wants nothing to do with being a baker at all) but both families forbid the union.
I think I disliked this story from the first page. First off, we had the mean older brothers trope again. Which maybe wouldn't have been so bad if 1) I hadn't read all three of these stories one after the other (but of course, this is a volume so it's PUT one after the other or 2) I didn't dislike so many other things. Second off, the older brothers are characterized by a passion for making up words. Their made up words were neither funny (which they were supposed to be at times) nor interesting. It just made things hard to follow. The father (which this book has for our protagonist) is characterized by a love for non-rhyming poems? And they just broke up the narrative.
So that is the family of our baker's son, Robin. Despite how unlikeable they all are, they spend the entire book hating on him because HIS passion is for telling jokes (bad jokes which are not funny, I'm sorry, but in the book are supposed to be really funny). And Robin wins over Princess Lark with his humour but then the families keep them apart.
Time goes by and then the ending of the book was equally unfunny (TO ME, this is MY OPINION, you may find it funny) and then when I thought it was the ending, something else happened so there was ANOTHER bit and then the ACTUAL ending made me go, "Why did we not do that ALLLL that way at the beginning then??"
So I just did not vibe with this tale in the volume. 2 stars
Overall Thoughts
This is not what I would consider GCL's best writing, but the creativity in Cinderellis and the Glass Hill is certainly one of my favourites when it comes to her short retellings. 3.5 overall rating.
ALSO. There is one trope that seems to pop up in all three of these stories: mean older siblings. It stood out sooo strongly that it kind of bothered me by the last book (just because the older sibling thing was the motivating factor for everything). I would just suggest pausing between the tales if you think that might bother you, like it did for me by the last tale.
Cinderellis and the Glass Hill
A different take on Cinderella (but only smaller references). Ellis' two older brothers completely ignore him, no matter how hard Ellis tries to impress them. Meanwhile, the two brothers are the best of friends. Ellis wants nothing more than to join in on that special friendship. He invents growing powder, shrinking powder, etc. that help him become the best farmer around but his brothers could care les. (Gail Carson Levine's descriptions on how Ellis invents these powders were really humourous and creative.)
We then have the princess, whose father decides, "Hey, she needs a husband now! I know, the man who can get his horse to climb a glass hill and get an apple from my daughter can marry her!"
I liked this story the most. 4.5 stars Ellis' desire to be noticed by his brothers and the princess' parallel efforts to get her father's attentions were nicely developed in such a short tale. I loved their characters and they were cute together.
For Biddle's Sake
A girl named Parsley (because she will only eat Parsley) is raised by a fairy who loves to turn things into frogs. Parsley ends up turned into a frog (by accident) and tries to help a young prince claim his throne instead of his quarreling older brothers.
It didn't take me long to notice an older brother theme. I enjoyed this tale, thought not as much as Cinderellis and the Glass Hill. Parsley was a sweet, sweet girl and the morals in this story really shone through her and the young prince's friendship. 4 stars
The Fairy's Return
A princess falls in love with a baker's son (who wants nothing to do with being a baker at all) but both families forbid the union.
I think I disliked this story from the first page. First off, we had the mean older brothers trope again. Which maybe wouldn't have been so bad if 1) I hadn't read all three of these stories one after the other (but of course, this is a volume so it's PUT one after the other or 2) I didn't dislike so many other things. Second off, the older brothers are characterized by a passion for making up words. Their made up words were neither funny (which they were supposed to be at times) nor interesting. It just made things hard to follow. The father (which this book has for our protagonist) is characterized by a love for non-rhyming poems? And they just broke up the narrative.
So that is the family of our baker's son, Robin. Despite how unlikeable they all are, they spend the entire book hating on him because HIS passion is for telling jokes (bad jokes which are not funny, I'm sorry, but in the book are supposed to be really funny). And Robin wins over Princess Lark with his humour but then the families keep them apart.
Time goes by and then the ending of the book was equally unfunny (TO ME, this is MY OPINION, you may find it funny) and then when I thought it was the ending, something else happened so there was ANOTHER bit and then the ACTUAL ending made me go, "Why did we not do that ALLLL that way at the beginning then??"
So I just did not vibe with this tale in the volume. 2 stars
Overall Thoughts
This is not what I would consider GCL's best writing, but the creativity in Cinderellis and the Glass Hill is certainly one of my favourites when it comes to her short retellings. 3.5 overall rating.
August 27, 2010
I love Gail Carson Levine! These stories are not deep, but they are cute and fun. These are maybe on a 2nd-4th grade level, but I sure enjoy them.
November 18, 2019
Also love this one and still like to reread to this day.
May 20, 2019
This was so much fun to read. I love a good yarn and these were fantastic. This book is a wonderful place to escape to, even when I dangle my participle. Old stories made new with witty and fresh writing are timeless!
April 26, 2022
I still love this book so much, rereading a childhood favorite author was so much fun to do. Gail Carson Levine does a great job of bringing humor and antics into her mixed up crazy fairytale stories.
September 5, 2017
So clever! Very fun
February 21, 2018
Not as good as the first, but LOVED the last story, so much. Interesting re-tellings of classic tales, though I'm not quite sure what the Fairy's Return is based off of.
January 9, 2019
It's fun to see twists in these fairy tales.
August 20, 2019
I loved these stories like I did the first 3! So good.
February 22, 2022
Ehhhhh.... not super clever or fun. Each story seemed to drag a bit. Not sure if I'll keep this one
December 23, 2022
This nostalgia absolutely hits 😋
Want to read
October 3, 2025SM
November 11, 2011
This was a cute book too. I think I liked the stories here a little better than the first. It's a set of three stories again. The first is Cinderellis. His name was orignially Ellis until his brothers renamed him. Cinderellis likes to invent things, but his creations are all powders that when sprinkled on an object make it grow, shrink, fly, etc. Of course he uses his creations to win the contest for the Princess.
The second is a twist on the Frog Prince. This one is a girl nicknamed Parsley because that's literally all she will eat. The only place parsley grows is in the mean fairy's garden. Parsley's dad steals from the garden and gets caught. The fairy falls in love with Parsley and takes her and raises her. She's very nice to Parsley and it doesn't go Rapunzel like I thought it was going to. Instead the fairy accidentally turns Parsley into a frog where she then meets the prince she's been watching for years through a magic spyglass and helps him with his adventures.
The third was the one where the princess won't stop crying and the King says whoever can make her laugh can marry her. She just fleshes this story out.
Very cute, worth at least a once-over.
The second is a twist on the Frog Prince. This one is a girl nicknamed Parsley because that's literally all she will eat. The only place parsley grows is in the mean fairy's garden. Parsley's dad steals from the garden and gets caught. The fairy falls in love with Parsley and takes her and raises her. She's very nice to Parsley and it doesn't go Rapunzel like I thought it was going to. Instead the fairy accidentally turns Parsley into a frog where she then meets the prince she's been watching for years through a magic spyglass and helps him with his adventures.
The third was the one where the princess won't stop crying and the King says whoever can make her laugh can marry her. She just fleshes this story out.
Very cute, worth at least a once-over.
October 5, 2015
A sweet little collection that can be read on on its own as easily as it can be read to kids, Levine's second volume of The Princess Tales provides a nice twist on three easily recognizable fairy tales. From gender swapping in Levine's version of Cinderella to the addition of frog magic in Rapunzel, Levine doesn't hesitate to play around with the traditional stories, while still being true to their core elements.
While not as charming as Ella Enchanted (though to be honest, nothing has ever quite come close to that wonderful novel), The Princess Tales is cute and simple enough to remind you of your younger and more fanciful years. I definitely felt like a kid again reading these!
3.5/5
While not as charming as Ella Enchanted (though to be honest, nothing has ever quite come close to that wonderful novel), The Princess Tales is cute and simple enough to remind you of your younger and more fanciful years. I definitely felt like a kid again reading these!
3.5/5
January 30, 2014
Cinderellis is about a boy Cinderella who is always working and trying to please his brothers. Princess Marigold has no friends. Her father who is king always leaves her alone to go in another quest. To see who should marry his daughter, there is a contest to see which man can get their horse to climb the glass pyramid.
The second book is about Parsley, a girl who only eats Parsley. She gets in trouble from the fairy Bombina, Til she sees her beautiful smile. Parsley falls in love with Prince Tansy.
The third book is about Princess Lark who finally finds someone she loves. His name is Robin. He is only a commoner, so the king won't let them wed. He must find someway to change the kings mind.
The second book is about Parsley, a girl who only eats Parsley. She gets in trouble from the fairy Bombina, Til she sees her beautiful smile. Parsley falls in love with Prince Tansy.
The third book is about Princess Lark who finally finds someone she loves. His name is Robin. He is only a commoner, so the king won't let them wed. He must find someway to change the kings mind.
January 19, 2008
I really enjoyed these lighthearted fairytale retellings by the author of Ella Enchanted.
All of them were a combination of a well know fairytail (Cinderella, Frog Prince/Rapunzel, and the Golden Goose) with a lesser know fairytail (Princess and the Glass Hill and two others I don't know the names of...)
All of them were a combination of a well know fairytail (Cinderella, Frog Prince/Rapunzel, and the Golden Goose) with a lesser know fairytail (Princess and the Glass Hill and two others I don't know the names of...)
September 10, 2009
This book collects three fairy tale adaptations. The three tales are charmingly cute and gently humorous, with plucky (and selfish and humble and silly) protagonists trying to find suitable mates. Not exactly intellectually meaty, but with issues of gender that fit a modern teenage reader. Positive.
March 28, 2011
I liked this set of three tales (Cinderellis and the Glass Hill, For Biddle's Sake, and the Fairy's Return) better than the first volume. Although the stories are still completely silly and mixed up fairy tales, Levine shows a defter and more mature hand in this batch. I especially enjoyed the story of Cinderellis.
August 19, 2012
Daughter and I are reading these stories together. She's a 5th grader and hates reading long books. This is a nice collection of short stories in a bigger volume which looks he part of a long chapter book with the satisfaction of a quick read. The are easy fun summer reading to build her fluency and stamina.
February 16, 2008
Love these books. My daughter and I read "Ella Enchanted" together and I was so impressed that I looked up these other books by her. They are all very quirky books about giving fairy tale princess' their own voice. Great for all girls!
August 10, 2017
Gail Carson Levine is one of those amazing authors who never put out anything that isn't amazing. I wish her novels had existed before I was an adult because they would have been right up my alley in middle school. Of course they are still up my alley and I'm 40 so I guess it doesn't really matter.
March 20, 2014
This is the second collection of princess tales. The stories in it are quite entertaining also. There are interesting twists in these stories also. Cinderella isn't a girl, and his name is Cinderellis. I really liked this collection.
August 17, 2015
I love the gender-bending nature of these re-tellings, there's a bit of the old story, but a lot of the new. These ones in particular are designed for ages 5-7, but there aren't too many pictures, so they're good ones to read out loud.
November 17, 2014
So Funny! I laughed so hard my friends asked me if i was ok!
March 7, 2008
Creative reworkings of familiar fairy tales.
March 13, 2008
all these stories are good
May 20, 2008
A must have for anyone's collection
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews