Hewing to classic fairy-tale tradition, these five eventful, connected stories by a first-time children's author follow the magical adventures of kindhearted Princess Serena. In the first story, Serena ventures into a "deep dark forest" to find her best friend's brother, one of many villagers who have mysteriously disappeared there. Because Serena has given her word as a royal to search for him, the king and queen must let her go. The author strikes an enjoyable note of suspense as the forest grows denser and Serena is bedeviled by thorns, brambles, and thick, entangling vines until she stumbles upon a clearing where an old woman is picking mushrooms. The old woman turns out to be a witch, but a good one, bolstering Serena's courage with a magic necklace, a new "inner name" (Princess Ican), and a butterfly to guide her to the source of the villagers' disappearances: the house of an evil wizard. Serena's nightmarish, shape-shifting struggle with the wizard (and his cat) leads to a disturbing change in her character in the third story (while the wizard undergoes a change for the better). In the fourth story, Princess Serena defies her parents to marry a woodsman and leave her royal life; the fifth story, which is somewhat overloaded, involves Serena's son, a kidnapping, the now-allied witch and wizard, a flying carpet, a giant eagle, drugged apples, and two kingdoms on the verge of war. Themes of honor, courage, and self-determination are effectively highlighted throughout this story collection, which is aimed at a target audience of elementary- and middle school-age children. Refreshingly, Kulin doesn't effect a complete reversal of the changes Serena and the wizard experience-instead, these changes add new dimensions to both characters. Kids will shiver at the book's chilling supernatural elements (including the wizard's method of dispatching the villagers). Keane's lavish, spot illustrations, rendered in an engaging mix of styles, offer vivid visual interest.
A strong hero leads an engaging, fairy tale-style narrative-imaginatively told and illustrated.
