Princess of the Midnight Ball
By: Asma Khan,
Staff Writer
When I was younger, I used to be completely fond of all the Disney Princess's! And, I still remember that mainly my childhood was playing with Barbie dolls and watching all the Cinderella movies, repeatedly. As each day passed of my childhood, I became more attached to the fantasy world. It stayed like that until the end of 3rd grade, but things changed in 4th grade. My older sister introduced me to Harry Potter. When I read the first few pages, I'm not even going to lie, I hated it. It was extremely boring to me, but I was keeping my word to my sister, so I continued. When I got to the part where they introduce Harry's present life, I didn't put the book down once! Predictably I read all the books in the series. After I was finished, started looking for new books to read, and of course I chose something that was a fantasy. (I read many books that I loved, I will list them below). "Princess of the Midnight Ball” by Jessica Day George was probably my favorite book of all. It has the 12 Dancing Princess's theme, mystery, and a touch of adventure. I really enjoyed this book and recommend that you read it, if Fantasy genre is more of your thing.
In a palace in Westfalin, there lived 12 princesses with their father, King Gregor (Their mother, Queen Maude died years before). A mystery of the Princess's worn out dancing shoes and sore feet makes the King worried about his daughters. He tries to ask them where they go every night to dance, but the princesses are under a spell and cannot tell him anything about it. Rumors start to go around with people gossiping. Desperate, he seeks help from the other kingdoms. He bargains with the other princes that if they solve the mystery, they can marry the oldest of his daughters, Rose. As this deal is made, a soldier, named Galen, comes home from the Westfalin-Analousia war, where his father died. On his way home, he meets an old lady who he shares his lunch with. In return, she gives him a present, with simple yet puzzling words. When arriving home he moves in with his uncle, aunt, and cousin. His uncle is the head gardener in the palace, so he gives Galen a job. Galen hears about the mystery of the worn out dancing shoes and gets even more curious when he meets the Princesses, especially Rose. The princesses get hopeful, thinking that he can figure out the mystery of the worn out dancing shoes and forever banish the curse. But Rose worries how he can accomplish the task. Will he be in danger if he finds out? Will he die? Or will he die trying?
So that is a summary of it. Hopefully, you read the book, as I said above, this is a great book for people who love fantasy. If you read this book don't forget that this is part of a series. And here is a list of the books that I loved! Definitely check these out! And Thank you!
Princess of the Midnight Ball
Princess of Glass
Princess of the Silver Woods
The Wide Awake Princess
Unlocking the Spell
The Goose Girl
The Princess Academy
The Princess Academy: Palace of Stone
The book cover/picture from Google
Here is the link: http://exhibits.lib.byu.edu/literaryworlds/george/