The Seven Sisters: A Fairy Tale

Written by G.C. McRae

Thesevensisters,pic

Story of a foolish king, his selfish wife and seven princesses involved in a deceitful plot. Once there was a foolish king who squandered his subjects’ money, so he was strung up by his toes! Now the brother of this king was so afraid of a similar fate that he permitted all his minsters and advisers to make his decisions. Eventually his subjects insisted he take a queen; he decided on the spinster daughter if a king from a faraway kingdom. She made many demands to which the king agreed. There was one problem he could not solve. The princess did not want more than one child running around the palace; the king had seven daughters.

The king’s advisers concocted an elaborate ruse Six of the daughters would be hidden far away in the castle. Only the eldest would be seen by the new queen. As each of the daughters grew old enough to marry, each of them would secretly leave the castle. Because the daughters looked so similar, the king hoped that his wife could be deceived. Though she was suspicious the ruse succeeded until twelve years had passed and the queen began to age. She grew increasingly jealous of the fact that the princess remained beautiful. The queen removed all the mirrors and banished old women from the kingdom because they reminded her that she was losing her own youth

The youngest princess and the court physician scheme to find a solution, but it backfires. What will happen to the king, the queen, the seven princesses and their kingdom? Is there a lesson to be learned?

The cover of the book is beautifully illustrated; the plot is fairly well developed with a clever ending. I think this book will appeal especially to middle grade students and young teens. Humor, fantasy and fairy tale are nicely interwoven.

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