Just Dance

Abby and Jonah are used to adventure, but it usually involves going through a magic mirror that brings them into a fairy tale which ends up being changed for the better, intentionally or unintentionally. Maryrose, the fairy who lives in the magic mirror, opens the portal that allows Abby and Jonah, and sometimes their dog Prince, to go into fairy tales. On a previous adventure, a not-so-graceful return caused the mirror to crack. The crack freed Maryrose from the mirror, but her powers weaken by the day. Abby sneaks food to her from the dinner table, but Maryrose, living hidden in Abby’s room, doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Abby and Jonah are worried about Maryrose, but they are also worried they’ll never get to go into a fairy tale again. They’re anxious and excited when Maryrose tells them they need to go into a fairy tale immediately, and this time it’s a matter of life and death. Abby and Jonah have a mission this time: Maryrose’s survival depends on their bringing back the crown ruby.

Usually, Abby and Jonah can tell what fairy tale they’re in immediately, but it wasn’t until 12 ballerinas appeared that Abby knew where they were: “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”. The King has promised the hand of any of his princess daughters to the prince who can solve a mystery: where do the princesses go at night? To date, no prince has been able to stay awake through the night, but the king is determined to find out where the 12 princesses, whom he calls by numbers One through Twelve, disappear to every night.

Unlike the poor princes, Abby and Jonah can’t be tricked into drinking a sleeping potion. Consequently, when midnight strikes, they follow the princesses and are surprised to find the ballerina princesses at an underground dance party, each with her own style of dance and calling each other by real names, not just numbers. When they’re away from their father’s eye, the princess’s personalities are as unique as their dance styles. The transformation from the numbered ballerina princesses their father knows to their unique selves at the dance party is night and day. If Abby and Jonah tell the king where the princesses go at night, perhaps they can get the crown ruby instead of the hand of one princess…but what will happen when the princess’s secret is revealed?

When the opportunity arrives, Abby and Jonah interrupt the king as he lectures his daughters, telling him that he has to stop treating the princesses like they’re exactly the same: each has a name, a unique personality, and a favourite dance style. The king is shocked that his treating the princesses the same, which seemed fair, was actually stifling and hurting them. The king and princesses are grateful to Abby and Jonah for bringing them closer together and for bringing the princess’s personalities to the king’s attention. What Abby and Jonah thought would be the toughest part, convincing the king to give them the crown ruby, turns out to be no trouble at all. When they return home with the crown ruby, Maryrose instantly improves a little, but it’s impossible to tell what the future holds for Maryrose and the children’s adventures into fairy tales.

Abby and Jonah always manage to change the fairy tales they visit for the better, but the changes they make to “The Twelve Princesses” may be some of the biggest and best. In their helping the princesses find their voices and helping the king realize that each of his daughters is their own person with her own interests, readers will see it’s important to get to know people and not just make assumptions based only on first impressions and what they believe people want without asking. Readers will also see how much better it feels to be yourself and not conform to what others think you should be or tell you to be.

While Maryrose’s situation adds a new storyline that can be carried through future books to create continuity between books rather than one-off adventures, it could take away from Abby and Jonah’s adventures. Some readers may not enjoy the storyline about Maryrose’s situation which makes this book darker than others in the series. However, the resilience Maryrose, Abby, and Jonah show as they face uncertainty in real life and their fairy tale adventures will keep their fans coming back both to cheer them on, and to find out what’s next for Abby, Jonah, and Maryrose!