Author(s): Catherine Gilbert Murdock

9-10 Year Old

Benevolence is not your typical princess – and Princess Ben is certainly not your typical fairy tale. With her parents lost to unknown assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia, who is intent on marrying her off to the first available 'specimen of imbecilic manhood'. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle's highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire... But Ben's private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat facing the castle, and indeed the entire country. Can Princess Ben save her kingdom from annihilation, and herself from permanent enslavement? This book is a fabulous twist on the traditional fairytale! The author was shortlisted for the Quill Awards in the US for her first book, Dairy Queen. Australian children's specialists loved this and its sequel The Off-Season, both featuring the wonderful DJ Schwenk. (And Catherine just happens to be the sister of Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame.) Catherine Gilbert Murdock manages to take all the familiar fairy tale elements and turn them on their head. Oh, and the voice! Ben has sardonically appealing wit, done in a style that sounds like it was written with a quill pen on parchment.