Little Daylight: A Fairy Story

Like Sleeping Beauty, the princess in MacDonald's tale is cursed at her christening by a jealous fairy. Little Daylight can awaken only at night, and her beautry must wax and wane with the moon until ``a prince comes who shall kiss her without knowing it.'' A young prince glimpese the beribboned princess dancing in the moonlight and falls in love, but when he next finds her, there is no moon and the princess looks as ``wrinkled and drawn'' as a withered old woman. The pirnce, thinking the woman is dying, kisses her and the spell is broken: Little Daylight's face shines ``as bright as the never-aging dawn.'' Ingraham's paintings ( Cross-Country Cat and Porcupine Stew ) are meticulously rendered. He combines the luminosity of Renaissance portraits with an almost photographic detail, creating a fairy tale world of moonlit beauty. All ages. (August)