A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

I have no hesitation on this one.  I love Gail Carson Levine's work, and A Tale of Two Castles is no exception.  Elodie heads to the city of Two Castles, where her parents believe she will apprentice herself to a weaver.  Elodie, however, has other plans: she wants to become a mansioner (actor).  Unfortunately, it's not until she's on her way that she learns that there are no more free apprenticeships, and the little bit of money she has is stolen by a cat shortly after her arrival.

Luckily for Elodie, she soon crosses paths with -- and then impresses -- Two Castle's resident dragon Meenore.  Soon the two of them are entangled in politics and plotting, and trying to protect the shape-shifting Ogre, Count Jonty Om.

Cats and ogres -- there's only one fairy tale that springs to my mind, and yes, this is Levine's retelling of Puss in Boots.  Although she follows the original tale in a way that's sketchy at best, she brings in plenty of the elements of it, and explores some of the trickier questions as well.  As she says on her website, "I'm utterly won over that a cat threatens a bunch of peasants with cutting them up as herbs for the soup and they're scared."

If you liked Ella Enchanted or Levine's other work, you'll like A Tale of Two Castles.  And if you haven't read any of her work, this is a fun one to start with.  She's definitely writing on the lighter side of fairy tales, and the book is probably aimed at middle grade readers, so the writing isn't overly complex.  It's a quick and enjoyable read.

Betsy Who Cried Wolf by Gail Carson Levine

Can I just say... I love everything Gail Carson Levine writes? I've never read anything by her that disappointed me. And that's always just nice to find an author like that.

Betsy Who Cried Wolf is one of her picture books, illustrated by Scott Nash, who captures the warmth and humor of the story perfectly.

My favorite part of this variant was that Betsy knows the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, giving her some clues as to how to act. She gets tricked by the wolf, not just causing mischief. Fortunately, she comes up with her own solution.

If you enjoy picture books, this is a great one for a fairy tale/folklore collection.

Also, Levine has a wonderful blog where she answers questions about writing every Wednesday.

Neverland Tales

This isn't exactly new news, but if you're looking for something more to round out your Peter Pan collection, these Neverland Fairy stories from Gail Carson Levine (of Ella Enchanted fame) are cute, sweet, and with enough depth to be interesting to any age.

While not featuring Peter Pan (although he gets a mention), Tinkerbell is a character in this story. Mostly I'm impressed, though, with Levine's ability to fill in the fairy setting of Neverland without ever contradicting the original story. The fairies are as impetuous as you could imagine from a reading of Peter Pan, but somehow Levine also makes them quite likable in a way that they aren't (or maybe aren't for me) in Barrie's original.

The first one is Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, and while it's a story by itself, it does open the way for Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand (while not, thank you very much, leaving us on a cliffhanger).

If you already know and like Levine's other stories, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. And I think Peter Pan purists (those of us who don't like a fluffy Peter Pan story; those of us who appreciate the melancholy of the original tale) won't be disappointed by an overabundance of happy skipping fairies. While not mean, these fairies aren't gushingly sweet, either. (Maybe just one of them!)

Has anyone else read them? What do you think? Too watered down (not counting the plot point in the second book!)?