For Biddle's Sake (Princess Tales) [Library Binding]

Gail Carson Levine (Author), Mark Elliott (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Princess Tales

There she was, chartreuse and warty and smiling at him. Such a nice smile. Something in his heart fluttered.

The young maiden, Parsley, will eat nothing but parsley, which in Snettering-on-Snoakes grows only in the fairy Bombina's garden. All is well -- until Bombina is released from the fairy queen's dungeon. Her crime? Failing to get along with humans. And turning them into toads!

Meanwhile, twin princes Randolph and Rudolph are causing trouble at Biddle Castle and pinning everything on their younger brother, Tansy. Prince Tansy cares about Biddle. Randolph and Rudolph don't. But one of the twins will be king, unless Prince Tansy accepts help from a green Biddlebum Toad!

A delightful retelling of the little-known German fairy tale "Puddocky." this fifth Princess Tale from Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine shows that nothing is quite as it seems and that anything is possible, with a dash of magic and a barrel of love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A pair of titles join Gail Carson Levine's Princess Tales series, illus. by Mark Elliott: The Fairy's Return, a spoof on "The Golden Goose"; and For Biddle's Sake, based on a little-known German tale, "Puddocky," about a girl who must put her own magic to work in order to fight off her guardian fairy's penchant for turning people into toads. (Oct.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-Light and breezy additions to the series. In For Biddle's Sake, young Parsley is turned into a toad by Bombina the fairy, and must convince Prince Tansy, the long-suffering younger brother of mean twins, to propose marriage to her in order to break the spell. In The Fairy's Return, a princess and a baker's son are infatuated with one another; Lark loves that Robin dares to joke with her, and Robin loves that she enjoys his jokes. Both fathers are against the friendship, and so years pass, until they are 15 and can finally wed after a fairy helps Robin perform three impossible tasks. Elements of various fairy tales, including "The Golden Goose," "Rapunzel," and "Puddocky," make their way into these funny stories. Eccentric and misguided characters abound; Robin's father, who fancies himself a genius poet, comes up with non-rhyming gems like, "Royalty and commoners must never mix./Remember this, or you will be in a predicament." Kids will love figuring what word he should have used in each poem, they'll cheer for the plucky heroines, and they'll relish the fairy-tale endings.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding: 112 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (October 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060000953
• ISBN-13: 978-0060000950
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,507,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and has been writing all her life. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Dave At Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and her Princess Tales books: The Princess Test, The Fairy's Mistake, Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, Cinderellis and the Glass Hill, For Biddle's Sake and The Fairy's Return. She is also the author of the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley.

In Her Own Words..."I grew up in New York City. In elementary school I was a charter member of the Scribble Scrabble Club, and in high school my poems were published in an anthology of student poetry. I didn't want to be a writer. First I wanted to act and then I wanted to be a painter like my big sister. In college, I was a Philosophy major, and my prose style was very dry and dull! My interest in the theater led me to my first writing experience as an adult. My husband David wrote the music and lyrics and I wrote the book for a children's musical, Spacenapped that was produced by a neighborhood theater in Brooklyn.

"And my painting brought me to writing for children in earnest. I took a class in writing and illustrating children's books and found that I was much more interested in the writing than in the illustrating.

"Most of my job life has had to do with welfare, first helping people find work and then as an administrator. The earlier experience was more direct and satisfying, and I enjoy thinking that a bunch of people somewhere are doing better today than they might have done if not for me."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable yarn full of subversive fairy tale elements, April 26, 2003

By 

Jim Carson "http://www.jimcarson.com" (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Biddle's Sake (Princess Tales) (Hardcover)

For Biddle's Sake is a charming yarn with multiple layers of subversive yet entertaining elements.

The story is based on a little known fairytale, Puddocky, with the classic Levine fairy tale elements: silly quests like finding a dog that will fit inside a walnut shell; humorous names like Princess Alyssatissaprincissa (sister of Countess Marianabanessacontessa); silliness such as distinguishing the twins by the size of their nostrils; and, the gratuitous normal-girl-meets-normal-prince through non-normal means.

"For Biddle's Sake" shares several of the same locales (e.g., Snettering-on-Snoakes) and character lineage (e.g, King Humphrey IV) as the Princess Test, which is somewhat comforting as these names can be tongue-twisters. As in the other books in the Princess series, Levine does a great job of portraying unsavory characters as capable of some redemption. For example, in Biddle, Randolph and Rudolph, while the bane of Tansy's daily life, eventually become comfortable with their place in the universe and co-exist with their brother.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For pity's sake, read this book!, December 6, 2002

By 

Nancy E. Merrill "Lit lover in Utah" (Salt Lake City, Utah USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Biddle's Sake (Princess Tales) (Hardcover)

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a Gail Carson Levine addict. I'll read anything she's written. But that's because she proves herself over and over and over. For Biddle's Sake, one of two new stories in the Princess Tales, lives up to the other tales in this series. Parsley loves, well, parsley. She won't eat anything else. The only place parsley growns near her parents' home is the garden of a fairy, Bombina, who is in fairy prison for turning too many people into toads (she's only allowed 5 a year). Alas and alack, the fairy is released and catches Parsley's father in mid-steal and ends up taking the parsley-loving mite home with her. As Parsley grows up, she becomes fascinated with the local royalty. The king has three sons, Randolph, Rudolph, and Tansy. Randolph and Rudolph are holy terrors who blame everything they do on their younger brother, Tansy, and get away with it. During the course of all of this, Parsley is accidentally turned into a toad by Bombina, the fairy, and wisked away to live by a stream. When the time comes to select the next heir, the king can't decide between the twins (R&R), and ends up sending all three sons on three quests.

Who will win the quests and become king? What is poor Parsley's fate? Buy the book and read for yourself.

Also recommended: All books in the Princess Tales Series, Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, R.K. Rowling

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For Biddle's Sake, December 8, 2005

By 

Chelsie Lacny "Chel" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Biddle's Sake (Princess Tales) (Hardcover)

This was a very short book, and I thought it was kind of boring. But for young people, this is the book for you.