Once upon a time....

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved fairy tales. When she was very little, her mother read them to her. Then, as she grew older, she began reading them to herself. She watched the Disney versions, read the original versions, and eventually discovered the retold versions. The first one she ever encountered was Gail Carson Levine's classic, Ella Enchanted.

Books such as Jane Yolen's Briar Rose and Orson Scott Card's Enchantment became instant favorites. Others, like Robin McKinley's Beauty and Rose Daughter and Donna Jo Napoli's Beast, also intrigued her.

As the little girl grew even older, she started to move away from the fairy tales, growing more and more interested in books that portrayed the real world. But something about the fairy tales kept drawing her back. Eventually, she discovered more re-tellings, like Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella, Robin McKinley's Spindle's End and Margaret Peterson Haddix's Just Ella.

Then, for a time, she forgot about them completely. This was largely due to the fact that she decided to major in English and was required to read all sorts of dreary things which related to the dark, cold world in which she lived (though there were some readings which she enjoyed).

After she graduated from college, the little girl realized that she was not so little anymore and began to focus on the world outside of her books. This was often frustrating, as the real world has very few heroes and princes. In fact, it turned out that the real world was absolutely teeming with villains! This was very disappointing to the little girl, so she decided to start a blog where she could pursue her passion for fairy tales.

This is that blog.