Category: Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Transaltar Publishing
ISBN-10: 1435726901
Type: Fiction
Pages: 104
Copyright: Jan 18, 2008
ISBN-13: 9781435726901
Book one of the Princess Carrina series for Young Readers explores the origins of magic in the Kingdom of Underbrook.
In the tallest tower of Castle Underbrook, Princess Carrina sat quietly on her window ledge watching the fading colours of the sunset. Actually, she spent most days locked away in her room, too scared to leave the castle. A strange magical power was growing inside her but she had no idea what it was or how to use it.
To the far north, in an ancient cottage buried deep within the woods, an evil ugly witch and her sister were brewing up a dastardly plot. They were going to kidnap the royal princess and steal her beauty for themselves!
In the southern part of the kingdom, a fiery-haired boy named Flame was having an adventure of his own, as he searched and searched for the source of the great river while battling boredom and the terrifying rapids.
Will Flame be able to save the princess from the clutches of the evil witch?
Will they be able to uncover the mystery of magic and unlock the Box of Hair?
Excerpt
Once upon a time, a king, a queen, and a beautiful young princess lived in a magnificent castle that sat on the edge of a crystal blue river. The castle was tall and grey, with spires that reached high into the sky often touching the clouds, and it had been built hundreds of years ago with rock and stone mined from the great Foothill Mountain in the southern part of the kingdom. The descendents of the villagers who originally built the castle now lived in a town called Missleship, which was just across the river to the east.
The River of Blue started from a large source lake that lay many kilometres to the north in the centre of a massive forest. The river passed through the entire kingdom, rushing past the castle, flowing south around the great mountain, then winding around and around the countryside eventually returning to the source lake. No one in the kingdom understood how the river could circle around into itself, but no one in this kingdom really worried about things like that, because for the most part they had no worries at all.
People in this kingdom were quite happy. They woke up early to enjoy the sunrise; they worked in the fields or on their farms all day; they stayed up late to enjoy the warm colours of the sunset. They loved the king, the queen, and the lovely young princess. And they also loved roses. Every village planted roses surrounding their town. They planted red, purple, and white roses, but never any other colours, because those were the three colours representing the kingdom. And this particular kingdom was called Underbrook.
Underbrook was actually the last name of the royal family, but they had been ruling for so long that their last name had become the name of the kingdom. Reginald Harringbone Thurgood Underbrook was the current king, who came from a long line of very good kings. He was kind and generous, and he genuinely loved his people. And although he had been ruling for a very long time, he was still young, healthy, and energetic.
The king and queen often went on long strolls throughout the kingdom, meeting their subjects and helping them whenever they could. Farmers would frequently ask advice from the king about their crops or farm animals, and he was greatly admired for his vast knowledge.
The queen would often be found having lunch or dinner with the local people, and one time she even helped a woman to milk a cow so they could have fresh cream for a special dinner. The queen was a beautiful woman who always wore stunning clothing made by the royal tailor, and she was envied by women throughout the kingdom for her regal appearance and her kindness.
The princess, however, was somewhat of a mystery, and the citizens of Underbrook really knew nothing about her except that she was very beautiful with long curly blonde hair. When she reached the age of ten, the princess no longer left the castle to join her parents on their trips around the kingdom. She began to spend most of her days in her room or in the library, never venturing outside the castle walls. She seemed to be afraid of the world, though no one knew why.
The villagers were quite curious about the princess, but they never asked the king or the queen about her. It was not their place to question the will of the rulers so they only talked amongst themselves, wondering if perhaps something was wrong with the princess. Maybe she was dumb, or perhaps she had a large mole on her face that she did not want anyone to see. She might even have one foot that was much larger than the other!
The stories that the villagers told about the princess were rather wild and fanciful. They really had very little to do when they were not working in the farms and fields, so they spent a lot of time gossiping. Fortunately, their ideas about the princess were completely wrong. She was very intelligent, had no large moles on her face, and both of her feet were exactly the same size. But there was something strange and unique about her, though no one knew what it was, not even the princess.
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