Gail Carson Levine has more fairy tales adapted for modern-day tweens where Ella Enchanted came from. Fairest is recent, and Ever is out as well. In Fairest, teen innkeeper’s daughter Aza is the heroine in a Snow White tale. Aza considers herself ugly — she is taller and bulkier than most other girls, with odd dark hair, pale skin and bright-red lips. When she gets the opportunity to go to the palace and meet the new queen, she also ends up getting a chance to be prettier. But beauty has its own perils, of course, and her new friend the queen becomes an enemy.
Love plays a part, of course, as do gnomes and ogres. Before her happily ever after, Aza gets the opportunity to reassess her notions of beauty and of herself.
Fairest is entertaining and perfectly acceptable for tweens and teens. It’s cute but probably not an ideal book for adults, as some teen books now are becoming — very versatile for any age readers.
Rated: None. No offensive content.
