Thursday, August 9, 2018

#tbt: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale


The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. 400 p. Books of Bayern series #1. Bloomsbury USA, August, 2003. 9781582348438. (own)

Happy Thursday TMS Readers! #tbt features a favorite of mine. Shannon Hale's debut, The Goose Girl was published in 2003. It is a retelling of a fairy tale of the same name that was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1800s. Hale remained quite faithful to the Grimm version but also created a world and secondary characters all her own. It is the story of Princess Ani who is supposed to travel to another kingdom to meet her betrothed but she is betrayed by her maid. Her maid convinces some of the guards to kill the loyal guards and the princess, but Ani flees into the forest. The maid continues to the palace posing as Princess Ani. The story is complicated but moves quickly thanks to interesting characters and a fascinating fantasy world. Hale went on to write several companion novels to The Goose Girl and set her Princess Academy series in a nearby kingdom. She collaborated with her husband on two graphic novels based on Rapunzel. These were illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation). Most recently, Hale wrote a graphic novel memoir called Real Friends, which is a TMS favorite.

No comments:

Post a Comment