Fowles (The Bachelor and the Bean
) offers a witty addition to the plucky-fairy-tale-heroine shelf. When the king decides that his son, the bookwormish Prince Andras, needs to be married off, he decrees that the young woman "clever enough" to bring back seeds from the kingdom's tallest tree will have his hand. Rosa, a village girl, "could climb anything" (her stepmother and stepsister, Irma, made her sleep out on the roof). But as Rosa makes her ascent up the tree, Irma hangs onto her hem and then pushes Rosa out of the tree just when the heroine grabs the seeds. No matter—a twist still lands a happily-ever-after ending. Fowles's talent for deliciously astringent prose ("You're costing me a fortune in candles," grumbles the King to his layabout bibliophile son. "A wife would sort you out") is matched by her gift for creating scenes of dreamy, intensely hued romanticism. The result is a wonderful narrative counterpoint that makes the story feel compelling and energetic even after repeated readings. What's more, anyone who thinks Cinderella was far too forgiving will applaud Fowles's ending: Irma remains stuck up in the tree. "Maybe I will go and rescue her…" Rosa tells her new husband. "But not yet!" Ages 4-8. (Feb.)
