Sunday, August 30, 2015

Review: Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep

Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I normally like re-imagined fairy tales and I like a lot of Gail Carson Levine's work, but this isn't one of my favorites. Part of the reason is my own bias about especially smart people. I actually LIKE them.

One of the fairies gives Sonora the gift of being 10 times as smart as everyone else. That means, according to popular imagery, that she is an obnoxious know-it-all, even as an infant. She even makes up answers to a few questions that are quite wrong, but she, and everyone else, takes them as word, since she is so much smarter than everyone else. Princess Sonora's intelligent brain makes everyone dislike her and she has no friends - not even her parents who also don't want to be around her or listen to her. Sigh.

Prince Christopher, who did not get any fairy blessings, is depicted as naturally curious. He loves to ask questions and listen to the answers. So, the smart guy is OK; the smart girl is obnoxious. Sigh, again.

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