THE GOOSE GIRL

By Shannon Hale

Pub: April 2005

400 pages

Have a thing for fairy tales? You know, like Cinderella, the Frog Princess, and all those frilly princess stories? Well, this is a princess story that has its frilly moments, but also quite a few touching, funny, and pretty hard core moments as well.

Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee is the Crown Princess of Kildenree. Ani's aunt tells strange tales and unlocks a new language for Ani - the language of animals. But when her aunt is banished, and Ani finds people don't trust her because of her 'gift' she strives to be normal and live up the the high standards a Crown Princess should possess.

But, Ani doesn't think she fits the part very well, and she finds out that neither did her mother. Soon, she is sent away to be the Queen of a foreign land that seems to hold all kinds of trouble and Ani is right in the middle of it.

This whimsical tale weaves action, turmoil, and exiting unexpected turns throughout the plot. Also, a bit of a romantic twist kept my girlish self interested. Ani is probably one of my favorite princesses ever, simply because she is easy to relate to.

I personally get bored very quickly with back and forth dialogue but I found that even the conversations in this book kept me intrigued because if I skipped around, I was sure to miss something. Here is what Stephenie Meyer had to say about this book. "Shannon Hale's book reignites my love of reading-that joy of having the time of my life with a great story." If the author of Twilight said that, it has to be a good book, right?

Of course, I have to give you my opinion of the book, and I give it a thumbs up. A fun story that produced some of my favorite quotes and that got me to read it aloud in the accent that I thought Ani might have had. A story that does that to me has to be one of my favorites. I hope you can add it to your favorites list as well!