Sleeping ugly

by Jane Yolen

Other authorsDiane Stanley (Illustrator)

Paper Book, 1981

Description

When beautiful Princess Miserella, Plain Jane, and a fairy fall under a sleeping spell, a prince undoes the spell in a surprising way.

Status

Available

Call number

398.2

Genres

Children's Books

Collections

Your library, Servetus

Publication

Scholastic (1981) [Paperback]

Media reviews

Children's Literature

Alexandria LaFaye, Ph.D. (Children's Literature) Does using a sleeping princess as a conversation piece sound weird to you? Well, almost everything about Jane Yolen's farcical story is intended to turn fairy tale motifs on their ear. The beautiful princess is rotten to the core and ends up lost in

the forest. She's assisted by a fairy, but ungrateful. They call on Plain Jane for assistance and she gladly helps. For her kindness, the fairy grants Jane three wishes which Jane uses to help the awful princess. The princess's lack of gratitude is responsible for putting them into a deep sleep. When a prince comes to rescue them, he chooses Jane as the object of his affection. He has no money, so they live out their life in Jane's cottage with the sleeping princess as a conversation piece. This irreverant look at fairy tales still has the prince saving the damsel in distress, but love is no longer based on beauty or status. Stanley's playful illustrations heighten the humor of the book and give it a distinctly modern setting in the end. 1997 (orig. 1995), PaperStar, $7.56 and $5.95. Ages 7 to 10.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member ezwicky

Being nice is more important than being beautiful or being rich in this version of the tale, in which the sleeping princess ends up staying asleep. The nasty princess says "stupid, stupid, stupid" which my daughter likes to parrot, unfortunately. (I tried pointing out that in the book, this results

in a curse which makes her produce toads when she talked. My daughter, like the heroine, likes toads, and did not see the downside here.) The language is good, and the story is satisfying. Nobody in it behaves perfectly (using the princess for a coatrack is a bit mean), but that's OK with me.

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9 more

LibraryThing member raizel

SPOILER: I was bothered enough by the choice at the end to leave the beautiful but mean princess in a coma that the entire story did not work for me. Modernizing the story a bit with a more casual manner of speaking and modern day dress made it closer to real life and made the princess that much

closer to being dead for her crime of hitting people and animals---too draconian a measure to suit me. And, yes, I agree with another reviewer who objected to the Prince falling in love with Plain Jane because she wished it; there were, however, enough other reasons for his loving her that it wasn't entirely clear that the fairy needed to grant Jane's wish. The morals---inner beauty is more important than outer; kindness wins the day---are what you would expect in an educational book. And not what

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LibraryThing member kthomp25

This is a reader featuring the skills of accomplished and accomplished writer, Yolen, and illustrator, Stanley. This story deals realistically with unpleasant people. The characters do not attempt to alter any evil behavior, they just work around it.

I especially enjoyed the prince's nod to three

of his own cousins, Bratina, Prunella, and Nastina who related to Miserella in looks and deeds. A very different take on the usual fairy tale.

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LibraryThing member HilarySI624

In line with other popular tradition-twisting fairy tales, the true protagonist of Jane Yolen’s Sleeping Ugly is not the Princess Miserella – whose name gives away her disposition even if her beauty does not – but the gentle and kind Plain Jane.

LibraryThing member cry6546

This Traditional Fantasy story puts a spin on Sleeping Beauty. Princess Miserella, a beautiful ungracious princess, gets lost in the woods. Princess Miserella then meets Plain Jane, a kind and homely lady, who has been given three wishes by a fairy. The fairy waved her wand so hard that they all

fell asleep for many years. Prince Jojo then wakes the three ladies up with a kiss and decides to marry Plain Jane since she has such a beautiful heart.

This story had a great theme of the importance of inner beauty. The story was very funny especially at the ending. I would recommend this story to any grade level.

One activity would be to have two worksheets in the shape of hearts representing Plain Jane and Princess Misserella. I would then have the children list what Princess Misserella's and Plain Jane's hearts were full of under the heart. They would then decorate the hearts however they felt representing the characters. Another activity would be to talk about why Plain Jane has a good heart and Princess Misserella has a bad heart. I would then have the children write about ways to have a good heart.

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LibraryThing member Kace

This is a Lexa review, who ran downstairs and wanted to share her favorite parts of the story, which happened to be the whole thing. I was digging the story, very much approved the "moral of the story"..Yolen had me until suddenly we got to one of the princesses' wishes. She used a wish to MAKE the

prince love her. NOOOOO! Yolen, you had me until that point...but I won't make this an angry diatribe. This will remain my 7 year old's review, in purest form, removed of my peculiar bias that girls be given better role models.I have to say, this huge issue aside, the writing was fun.

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LibraryThing member empress8411

A rather amusing retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, in which the Beauty learns a lesson about the proper way to treat people. Or, would learn a less if she ever woke up....

LibraryThing member alyssahagen

Princess Miserella was a beautiful princess but on the inside wasn't so beautiful. Plain Jane was a simple personality that was delightful, but wasn't so beautiful. A meeting with a fairy changes their lives forever. This is a good story because it teaches a good lesson and moral which is that to

not judge someone from their looks. This book would be for upper elementary.

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LibraryThing member Whisper1

Thus far, of all the books I've read by Yolen, I'm not disappointed. This is a quick, lively banter- filled tale of the beautiful princess Miserella who remains beautiful despite the ugliness inside, a magical fairy, and a not-too beautiful Plain Jane who has a loving nature, but a very plain

countenance.

When Miseralla's terrible ugly actions upset the fairy, mistakenly the three are all thrown into a deep, deep sleep. Along comes a handsome prince who must choose to kiss the right lady.

The illustrations are lovely. I enjoyed the humorous rendition of this fairytale.

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LibraryThing member melissa_tullo

This title caught my eye when me and my fellow librarians were reorganizing our fairy tales section in the children's room. It's about a princess named Miserella who is very beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside. She gets lost in the woods and comes upon an old woman (a fairy in

disguise) and brings her to the cottage of Plain Jane who is Miserella's opposite, not so good-looking on the outside but kind on the inside. For her kindness, the fairy grants Plain Jane three wishes but ends up wasting two of them when Miserella intervenes and meets the business end of the fairy's wand. It's basically a subversion of the familiar Sleeping Beauty fairy tale and that's what drew me to it. There are tropes that many will recognize like the fairy in disguise, the princess caught in a hundred year sleep, the reviving kiss, etc. However, it surprises you at the end with a valuable moral lesson on inner and outer beauty. I would recommend this for readers age 4 and up, especially if the reader happens to be a little princess crazy. Definitely a perfect story for them to read with their parents or teachers. This book could also be part of a great discussion if they would choose inner beauty over outer beauty and what the reader would consider to be the most important.

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