THE RESTLESS GIRLS: A tale of daring, a quest for freedom written by Jesse Burton and illustrated by Angela Barrett is a captivating variant of the Grimm’s fairytale The Twelve Dancing Princesses.
This enriched version of the tale is set in a castle at a time when kingdoms were ruled by only Kings. However, Queen Laurelia, who motors about the countryside in her racing car as a sign of her personal freedom, encourages her daughters to honor their dreams to become writers, astronomers, singers and even an airplane pilot! The addition of typewriters, racing cars and airplanes greatly expands the fairytale.
When the Queen dies in a car crash King Alberto decides to keep his twelve daughters locked away where they will be safe, or so he says. He cancels all of their music lessons, math tutors and access to the Royal Gardens. The King then locks them in a room with twelve beds and curtains drawn with no access to books, lessons, music, sunshine or freedom.
Frida, the eldest princess, finds a mysterious trap door in the room through which she leads her sisters down dark staircases, over a lake in rowboats and through forests to a magic tree palace! There they joyfully dance all night until their shoes are in tatters. The furious King is determined to find out how his daughters escape and wear out their shoes each and every night.
Jessie Burton’s beautiful writing captures the motif of the fairytale and at the same time brings it forth into a feminist point of view. Angela Barrett’s elegant and rich illustrations of the princesses, the dancing white bear, the flying toucans and the wise lioness are impressive.
THE RESTLESS GIRLS: A tale of daring, a quest for freedom written by Jessie Burton and illustrated by Angela Barrett has a solid message and a delightful surprise ending for readers 9-12 years of age (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019).
The Children’s Bookshelf is a production of WCMU. A link to the podcast and activity questions can be found at Children’s Bookshelf dot org.
Activity questions for The Restless Girls: A tale of daring, a quest for
freedom
Read the Grimm’s fairytale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It can be found online and in Iona and Peter Opie’s The Classic Fairy Tales. Compare the details in this classic version to the details in this book. In what ways are the two versions the same? How are they different? Why?
Queen Laurelia encourages her daughters to develop their interests but implies that it is “hard when you are just one queen racing your motor against a long line of history trying to squash you down.” What does she mean? Draw a picture of an example of this long line of history. Give your picture an appropriate caption.
Look at each of the beautiful illustrations again. Which is your favorite and why? Which picture for you is humorous and why? Which picture best stands for freedom? Which picture best shows courage? Which illustration shows joy? Study the front and back covers and assign one of the names used in this story to each of the 12 princesses shown dancing---have fun!
