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Aug 14, 2014mmcbeth29 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
There are very children's book I do not like, but unfortunately this is one of them. The concept of the story is great. The princess loses everything, tries to save the prince, but in the end learns to live without all the fancy things, even the prince. But There are several ways in which the story doesn't deliver for children. First, why does the princess have to be completely naked on page two? How did the dragon's burning down of her castle make her lose her clothes? I find this completely creepy and inappropriate. Then there are the horse bones and total destruction of forests. Again, not appropriate for the advertized age range of 4-7. The princess finds and very cleverly tricks the dragon into wearing himself out so she can save the prince. But when she realizes the prince is not a nice guy, the line simply says "They didn't get married after all." Little kids are not going to be able to reason this out. And the princess simply runs off into the sunset in the end. She's just a young girl. Where is she going to go? I feel this book is mislabled for small children. It should be for ages 8 and up. Fairy tales can be wonderful learning tools, but this book falls short in the delivery. There are several places the author could have done a better job telling this story in a way children would understand. Would I recommend this book? NO. There are many better fairy tales available