The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Title: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Genre: Fantasy
Author: Alison Jay
Major Awards: None
Age Group: 3rd-5th grade

This story is about a group of twelve princesses who are sisters. Each morning when they awoke, their father noticed that their shoes looked like they had been danced in all night. The father asked them what they did at night, and they assured him that they slept in their beds. The father did not believe them, so he sent in princes to spy on them as the slept. The father said that whoever could discover what these princesses were up to at night could marry the princess of their choice. The first prince was given wine from the princesses upon entering their room. This wine made him sleepy, so he fell asleep each night instead of spying on the princesses. One day, a wounded soldier was riding through the kingdom when he met a woman. She handed him an invisible cloak and told him to not drink the wine when it was offered at the door of the princesses' room. Upon entering their room, he was given the wine but only pretended to drink it. The princesses assumed he was asleep when they found him in his bed, so they performed magic which led them into a forest. The prince put on his invisible cloak and followed them. Here, the prince collected branches from the trees to prove to their father where he had been. The princesses noticed something was "off" this night, and could not figure out what it was. During his adventure with him, the prince developed feelings for the oldest princess when watching her dance in the ballroom. Upon returning home, the prince revealed what he had discovered about the princesses. In the end, he chooses the oldest princess as his wife and they live happily ever after. 

Since this is a picture book, I would assume it is for early elementary-aged students. I would not use this in my classroom if I were teaching younger than third grade, though. The storyline is pretty complex and there are big words used, so I would not want to use it in my classroom if I taught kindergarten, first, or second grade. If I taught third grade and up though, I think it would be a book that my students enjoy!

Like I said, this book is pretty advanced for a picture book, so I think it would be best for third through fifth grade students. The story is incredibly long with many pages and paragraphs on each page, so I think that by third grade, students would be at an appropriate reading and maturity level for this book. 

In my classroom, I think it would be fun to have my students act out the story. Since there are so many characters, most of the students in my classroom could play a part. I think that the students would gain a better understanding of the story by acting it out. I could also have a class discussion about what my students think the princesses should have done when their father asked them about their shoes: should they have told the truth?