The Ordinary Princess

The Ordinary Princess M.M. Kaye Date: 01 March, 2002   —   $5.39   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Children's

As any reader of fairytales can tell you, fairytale princesses are beautiful, tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and graceful, and the youngest daughter is always the most beautiful of all. Especially when the daughter is the seventh daughter in a land where only princesses are born.

Except for Amy.

Amethyst's christening ended with an old fairy using her magic to make her Ordinary. Since that fairy was the strongest in the land, it overwhelmed all the other gifts for beauty and charm to make a child that was not fairy-tale royal but one who liked to run and play and trip over long skirts... and generally, be all that an ordinary child should be. The trouble starts when all of her sisters are married off and prospective suitors are frightened off by the fact that Amy isn't tall, blonde, and gorgeous, but rather a bit skinny, freckled, and with mousy brown hair. Her parents start looking into renting a dragon to terrorize the countryside (and to entrap a wary suitor), but when Amy gets wind of it, she does what any ordinary person would do— she runs away.

And it soon becomes quite evident that the fairy's gift was a gift indeed, because it's through her very ordinariness that Amy (never Amethyst) finds true happiness.

This is perfect for the inquisitive child who has managed to work out that Snow White is the only brunette to be a fairytale heroine, or for those adults who have a love for childhood fairytales. (I first encountered it in college on the shelves of a friend.) And, of course, it's a happy little tale for those of us who are Ordinary.