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The Princess Tales #3
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep
A spiteful fairy. A beautiful princess. An outstretched finger. A spindle. A hundred-year snooze. A charming prince. A kiss. Allthe familiar ingredients. But wait! Where did that extra prince come from? And those fairy gifts that were never there before? And what does a flock ofbalding sheep have to do with anything? Gail Carson Levine has waved her magic wand over the old standby of "Sleeping Beauty" and presto! It reappears, transformed,sparkling and hilarious. Chuckles and giggles are guaranteed.
112 pages, Library Binding
First published September 8, 1999
9 people are currently reading
2163 people want to read
About the author
Gail Carson Levine
65 books9,670 followersJust letting you all know: I'm only going to review books I love. There's enough negative criticism without me piling on. A book is too hard to write.
Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and began writing seriously in 1987. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a 1790 farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and began writing seriously in 1987. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a 1790 farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 273 reviews
September 17, 2020
Do you like retelling of fairy-tales? Gail Carson Levine is the author for you. She is witty, and pokes fun at fairy-tales all the while making you love the story even more.
“What a hideous baby, the fairy Arabella thought. She said, “my gift to Sonora is beauty.” She touched the baby’s yellow squooshed-up face with her wand.”
– Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine
Just by the first page, you can grasp the humor Levine puts in her words. Her use of run-on sentences leaves you out of breath and laughing from the repetitiveness.
In Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, a retelling of a French fairy tale called Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault (or “The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood”) or German fairy tale called Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm, a little girl named Sonora is given gifts by multiple fairies. Some of those gifts include beauty, gracefulness, good health, intelligence, brilliance (same thing? Hmm) and last... but not least... pricking herself with a spindle and dying!
The one-month old baby Sonora talks a fairy (yes, talks!) into making the whole town fall asleep with her when the time comes… when will that time be? Aurora decided then and there that she would pick the perfect time for it to happen.
She was so smart that it bothered everyone she came in contact with. I mean, wouldn't you hate a small little girl telling you how to do your job more efficiently? I know I would.
The King and Queen have arranged a marriage to a Prince! Sonora didn't think she liked him though…he was very boring. She will wait till he leaves to prick herself so she didn't have to marry him.
Wait? What’s that? Her mother is running around the corner with a spindle yelling treason? What will happen? Will Sonora prick her finger just in time or time too soon or time too late? Will she marry the Prince? Will he sleep too? Will Sonora get the ending she wants?
Levine has a splash of humor you will not find anyone else. Using plays on words and awkward humor, this is perfect for a story for a young girl or for a grown woman who can’t get enough of fairy-tales (cough me). I will always be a fan of Levine’s writing.
“What a hideous baby, the fairy Arabella thought. She said, “my gift to Sonora is beauty.” She touched the baby’s yellow squooshed-up face with her wand.”
– Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine
Just by the first page, you can grasp the humor Levine puts in her words. Her use of run-on sentences leaves you out of breath and laughing from the repetitiveness.
In Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, a retelling of a French fairy tale called Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault (or “The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood”) or German fairy tale called Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm, a little girl named Sonora is given gifts by multiple fairies. Some of those gifts include beauty, gracefulness, good health, intelligence, brilliance (same thing? Hmm) and last... but not least... pricking herself with a spindle and dying!
The one-month old baby Sonora talks a fairy (yes, talks!) into making the whole town fall asleep with her when the time comes… when will that time be? Aurora decided then and there that she would pick the perfect time for it to happen.
She was so smart that it bothered everyone she came in contact with. I mean, wouldn't you hate a small little girl telling you how to do your job more efficiently? I know I would.
The King and Queen have arranged a marriage to a Prince! Sonora didn't think she liked him though…he was very boring. She will wait till he leaves to prick herself so she didn't have to marry him.
Wait? What’s that? Her mother is running around the corner with a spindle yelling treason? What will happen? Will Sonora prick her finger just in time or time too soon or time too late? Will she marry the Prince? Will he sleep too? Will Sonora get the ending she wants?
Levine has a splash of humor you will not find anyone else. Using plays on words and awkward humor, this is perfect for a story for a young girl or for a grown woman who can’t get enough of fairy-tales (cough me). I will always be a fan of Levine’s writing.
June 14, 2017
A lovely, short, and delightful Sleeping Beauty retelling. :)
May 23, 2020
I really liked the characterization of Sonora and Christopher and how Sonora made plans to use her curse to her advantage. I enjoyed the small vignettes to show the passage of time and hearing about the decay during the one hundred year sleep.
July 8, 2011
Gail Carson Levine is the best at taking a fairy tale and twisting it into something a little different, a little smart, and definitely funny. Her main characters are always strong, likeable characters (even if they are a bit quirky).
This is the third book in The Princess Tales series, based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The plot is basically the same. An angry fairy curses princess Sonora, saying she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Thankfully there is another fairy who modifies the spell, saying she will only sleep for 100 years and the curse can be broken by a prince's kiss. Sound familiar? Well, one of the fairies also gave her the gift of being ten times smarter than anybody else in the world. So as an infant, Sonora can speak and is wiser than all the adults around her. She also annoys these adults, because she is always trying to explain to them why things are the way they are (she just knows everything!).
Because she is so intelligent and values curiosity and knowledge, she is devastated when she is betrothed to a handsome yet dull prince. Because she was such a smart infant, she knew about the curse and decides to prick herself with the spindle to make herself sleep for 100 years...at least then she won't have to marry this prince.
But seldom do things go as planned...
A great series for girls who love fairy tales but are moving on to chapter books.
This is the third book in The Princess Tales series, based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The plot is basically the same. An angry fairy curses princess Sonora, saying she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Thankfully there is another fairy who modifies the spell, saying she will only sleep for 100 years and the curse can be broken by a prince's kiss. Sound familiar? Well, one of the fairies also gave her the gift of being ten times smarter than anybody else in the world. So as an infant, Sonora can speak and is wiser than all the adults around her. She also annoys these adults, because she is always trying to explain to them why things are the way they are (she just knows everything!).
Because she is so intelligent and values curiosity and knowledge, she is devastated when she is betrothed to a handsome yet dull prince. Because she was such a smart infant, she knew about the curse and decides to prick herself with the spindle to make herself sleep for 100 years...at least then she won't have to marry this prince.
But seldom do things go as planned...
A great series for girls who love fairy tales but are moving on to chapter books.
June 18, 2009
Oh DEAR. I hated this with a passion. The plot was a perfectly good idea and I do like subverted fairytales. But if you are going to have a princess given the gift of superior intelligence it is a good idea to have that intelligence on show - not cod folk remedies and aphorisms that MAKE NO SENSE. It made Princess Sonora completely unlikeable, a terrible thing in a fairy-tale heroine and the Prince who rescued her an idiot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2017
The life lesson I learned from this is:don't be a know-it-all.
July 19, 2022
Give yourself a treat and read this entire series, would you?
You know you want to.
You know you want to.
February 29, 2024
This was a short but charming fairytale retelling. I read Ella Enchanted which I found to be okay, but I thought Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep was better. The story is very short, but the little asides and side commentary going on in each character's head made me laugh out loud!
No, it's not deep, but it was a fun read that only took me a day. It would make a great read aloud and as a kid I would have loved it even more.
No, it's not deep, but it was a fun read that only took me a day. It would make a great read aloud and as a kid I would have loved it even more.
July 9, 2025
A fun retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It puts a lot of twists on the familiar fairy tale. Don't expect it to be boring or typical, because it's not! I liked how it tells you some of what happens over the 100 years the princess and her kingdom are asleep. Also, "Princess Sonora knows, but don't ask her...because she's asleep!"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2017
Short and adorable. Recommended.
February 18, 2023
princess 10x smarter than anyone in the world + prince who begins every sentence with “why?” = bound to fall in love
December 30, 2018
Super fun -- not fractured fairytales, but improved!
October 9, 2025
10/10, no notes. Impeccable character naming.
May 9, 2012
I first read The Princess Tales Collection when I was about nine--one of the first books in English I ever read. I absolutely loved them. Gail Carson Levine became one of my favorite authors.
I recently reread them, ten years later, and they are still as poignant and sweet and funny as ever. This one, Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, is my personal favorite. I loved when the fairy Adrianna made Sonora so smart and I laughed so much at the stupid Prince Melvin. I liked how Levine never makes her princesses ordinary, and this one is a misfit, a supersmart girl many of us wouldn't like to have around.Yet even she finds a perfect match.*Spoiler* My
favorite part is when Prince Christopher is totally grossed out and doesn't want to kiss Sonora, until she begins to talk in her sleep.
It's memorable.
I recently reread them, ten years later, and they are still as poignant and sweet and funny as ever. This one, Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, is my personal favorite. I loved when the fairy Adrianna made Sonora so smart and I laughed so much at the stupid Prince Melvin. I liked how Levine never makes her princesses ordinary, and this one is a misfit, a supersmart girl many of us wouldn't like to have around.Yet even she finds a perfect match.*Spoiler* My
favorite part is when Prince Christopher is totally grossed out and doesn't want to kiss Sonora, until she begins to talk in her sleep.
It's memorable.
November 20, 2010
It was cool reading about a baby who was gifted will Brilliance (ten times smarter than everyone else) because as a baby she could talk and she never had to sleep. I wonder what it would be like to never have to sleep and to be able to talk and do everything a average adult could at 1 month old. Kind of cool. I of course liked how (since it was a fairy tale) the prince and the princess were perfect for eachother. He wanted to know everything and had so many question, she could answer all those questions and wanted to find someone who actually cared. Sadly of course it's a fairy tale. In reality those hardly happen. Shame, that would be awesome.
April 13, 2008
Bagus sekali! Ini cerita Putri Tidur yang diplesetkan. Bukunya memang sangat tipis, tapi pesan moralnya sangat jelas. Buku ini sepertinya men-challenge stereotype putri-putri dalam cerita dongeng yang kelihatan cantik tetapi tidak pintar.
December 3, 2012
Mbok ya kalo mo plintir fairy tale tuh dibikin yang keren kayak gini sih. Yang sekaligus realistis dan logis.
Jangan kayak si Claiming of Sleeping Beauty yg bikin eneg itu #masiheneg ngelanjutinsiSleepingBeautyyangitu
Jangan kayak si Claiming of Sleeping Beauty yg bikin eneg itu #masiheneg ngelanjutinsiSleepingBeautyyangitu
December 27, 2016
A tongue-in-the-cheek retelling of the famous fairy story, which was enjoyable and certainly a fun read for children.
May 30, 2017
Cute, but nothing amazing!
April 20, 2020
The logic of this story escapes me. I suppose I should have listened to the audiobook more closely, but I was tired. I may revisit this review at a later time.
Note: This audiobook is offered free for listening through Audible during this time of the virus crisis. I assume it is available only for a short time. You can find these audiobooks at Audible Stories.
The basic idea behind the story is that "Sleeping Beauty" decides that she will choose her own time to get pricked by the needle. Then she will sleep 100 years. Her basic problem is that she has more than one guy who wants to marry her, and frankly they both could use some work. It all works out in the end, although I found the ending somewhat forced.
I'll have to listen to this audiobook again to make sure I'm being fair.
Note: This audiobook is offered free for listening through Audible during this time of the virus crisis. I assume it is available only for a short time. You can find these audiobooks at Audible Stories.
The basic idea behind the story is that "Sleeping Beauty" decides that she will choose her own time to get pricked by the needle. Then she will sleep 100 years. Her basic problem is that she has more than one guy who wants to marry her, and frankly they both could use some work. It all works out in the end, although I found the ending somewhat forced.
I'll have to listen to this audiobook again to make sure I'm being fair.
January 19, 2022
Princess Sonora knows but don't ask her. She's 10 times smarter than anyone else, but no one wants to hear what she knows. This is a cute and humorous retelling of the Sleeping Beauty legend. I particularly liked the Prince's reaction as he entered the castle, remarking on how filthy and decrepit everything was. Will he kiss the Princess even though she is covered with spiderwebs and other icky stuff?
I found this on my bookshelf as I was weeding and moving my books around. I'd forgotten I had it.
I found this on my bookshelf as I was weeding and moving my books around. I'd forgotten I had it.
June 4, 2017
*Spoiler Alert*
I first read this book when I was 6 or 7. I fell in love with it as well as the others Levine wrote. It made me so happy to come back and reread this so many years later! Princess Sonora is the smartest girl in the world and has no one to listen to her facts. Prince Christopher doesn't have anyone to answer his questions. The couple is beyond perfect. I intend to read this book as well as the others like it to my future children.
I first read this book when I was 6 or 7. I fell in love with it as well as the others Levine wrote. It made me so happy to come back and reread this so many years later! Princess Sonora is the smartest girl in the world and has no one to listen to her facts. Prince Christopher doesn't have anyone to answer his questions. The couple is beyond perfect. I intend to read this book as well as the others like it to my future children.
Read
July 9, 2020Short (~1 hr 30 mins audio) and enjoyable. Not groundbreaking, but fun and farcical. I think I would've really enjoyed this has I been younger, but it was still an entertaining listen.
(My only criticism was pretty minor: for someone meant to be 10x as brilliant as anyone else the princess often made up a completely illogical reason for things being the way they are. I think it was a stylistic choice that was meant to be funny, but it just didn't really make sense)
(My only criticism was pretty minor: for someone meant to be 10x as brilliant as anyone else the princess often made up a completely illogical reason for things being the way they are. I think it was a stylistic choice that was meant to be funny, but it just didn't really make sense)
February 6, 2022
If you asked me to name my favorite author in middle school, I'm not sure I could have done it, but Gail Carson Levine would definitely be up there (She's practically the Queen of the fairy tale retelling). For some reason though, I never actually read her "Princess Tales" so I picked this up somewhat randomly over the weekend. Did it take me approximately 20 minutes to read or less? Yes. Was it fun? Yes. Long live Queen Gail.
March 26, 2022
I read this book because it was recommended in a women’s empowerment book I’m reading, but I didn’t personally find this remake of Sleeping Beauty to be that different from the original. Sleeping Beauty (Sonora) was more modern and flippant, but (spoiler alert) still got woken up by a kiss from a prince, and still married him. So as far as I’m concerned, no difference. There are better modified fairy tales out there!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2020
An interesting take on Sleeping Beauty. I appreciate that the princess in this story is not only beautiful, but smart. I also like that when the prince finds her asleep she is not a sleeping beauty. Instead, he almost didn't kiss her because she was gross and covered with dust and cobwebs, as would happen if someone slept for 100 years.
May 2, 2020
I liked how the hundred year long sleep was quite realistic with the dust, crumbling castle, clothes turned to rags, etc.... It just irked me how Sonora was covered with dust and cobwebs before Prince Christopher kissed her. The fairies could have ~covered~ her at least.
Anyway lovely retelling of Sleeping Beauty but I did notice the lack of dragons which I was kind of looking forward to xD
Anyway lovely retelling of Sleeping Beauty but I did notice the lack of dragons which I was kind of looking forward to xD
May 10, 2020
Currently free at Audible Stories
Listening Time : 1 hour 28 minutes
Well narrated and humorous retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
Listening Time : 1 hour 28 minutes
Well narrated and humorous retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
May 12, 2023
This was our least favorite of the Princess Tales so far. The fairies' gifts made us all feel sad for Sonora and her parents, and made Sonora a little hard to enjoy as a heroine, and the prince (and solution to Sonora's dilemma of having an answer for everything) doesn't come into the story until the last chapter or two, by necessity, so it feels a little rushed/tacked on. 🤷
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2024
A re-read from my childhood. I will admit the five stars may be due mostly to nostalgia. But still, it's such a unique and original retelling. It's short, sweet, and funny. My absolute favorite part is her super genius and his super curiosity are a perfect match. I wish there was a longer and more fleshed out version of this
Displaying 1 - 30 of 273 reviews