A restless take on The Restless Girls that reminds me of The Dance of the Hours from Fantasia with its dancing animals. It removes the romance element and lets the girls rescue themselves. Good but lacking in emotion.

A magical, kind of modern, feminist retelling of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'. I loved that each sister had their own unique personality and different passions, and ambitions. A lot of young children will find a character like them in this story. The writing was beautiful and the story itself was well executed. The illustrations were beautiful and enhanced the splendor of this book.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher via Net Galley.

This one was a wonderful twist on the Twelve Dancing Princesses. If I had to summarize this book in one phrase, it would be: modern fantasy and forever feminism woven deftly in a children’s fairy tale.

I did have mixed feelings about this book though. On it’s plus side, it has:

the retelling itself – written just right for the target audience without going overboard on feminism and letting the readers know to follow their dreams, be it a veteranarian, a botanist, a writer, a singer, a cook, a pilot, a race-car driver, or more!
the sometimes lyrical quality of the language used – for example, phrases like “as secret as a moonlit pillow in a windowless room“, “as deep as a dream from which you might never wake“, and “sometimes a feeling can be as true as fact” are littered generously throughout the book making me smile.
and based on the cover-art, I am sure the illustrations would have been beautiful (unfortunately, this review copy was missing them – so maybe this is something I should have put in the list below?)
And then there were these things I could not help but wonder at:

some characters make an appearance in the book and I feel they should have/would have played a bigger role; but somehow they just seem to vanish silently
could such smart girls as portrayed in the book fail to recognize one of their own?
In Summary:
Overall, this is a book that will be enjoyed by the intended audience and for those fans of retellings of fairy tales as well. Like I said before, this is modern fantasy and forever feminism woven deftly in a children’s fairy tale.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copies of the book above. These are my honest opinions

I’ve always enjoyed retellings of classic fairy tales. Jessie Burton’s The Restless Girls is a feminist version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I haven’t seen many retelling of this story. I think my favorite part is the fact the princess’ mum loved driving a race car (I actually think I would like to have that story as well). The idea of secret doors and talking animals still fits into this modern setting. As with a fairytale, there was a certain amount of predictability, but the story is still enjoyable. I can think of several readers at my library who would love this book. I’d recommend the books to 3-5 graders seeking more modern fairy tales.

"The Restless Girls" is juvenile fiction, a feminist retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses tale. When the queen dies in an automobile accident, the king locks his daughters up and treats them like prisoners to protect them. The princesses discover a secret door that leads below the palace to a dance floor populated with animals, and they go there to survive the dullness of life. When the king discovers that they wear down their slippers every night, he demands an explanation from the eldest daughter, who refuses to tell him and is banished. The remaining princesses use their wits to prevent their secret from being discovered.

The story seems to be set in a 1910s or 1920s America type of setting, with jazz, automobiles, and planes. It's not difficult to figure out what's going to happen if you know the fairytale and notice that it's the talented princesses that are the focus of this tale. I didn't find story or the drawings particularly remarkable, though it was an enjoyable story. There was no sex or bad language.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book! A fantastic retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. This book is a great suggestion for readers looking for strong female characters...these princesses are definitely not damsels in distress! Beautifully illustrated, looking forward to seeing the illustrations in color! Highly recommend!

Lovely book! I am a sucker for fairy-tale adaptations, so I was predisposed to like this one from the start, but it did not disappoint. I will definitely be buying this for both libraries where I work. I also think it would be a great read-aloud--the language is lovely and it reads almost like a story being told between friends.

It was a struggle to turn my novel-loving brain off and slip into the ease of this novella, but I'm glad I did. What a fun, quirky, FEMINIST retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I loved that each princess was given a name, an interested, and a personality (what?!) of their own. I was expecting a bit more magic to the prose and maybe a bit lest predictability to the story, given the author (Jessie Burton) but I'd still recommend this to anyone looking for feminist spins on a classic fairy tale.

A feminist adaptation of the Grimm Brother's The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It's a short read and enjoyable to boot, although there are elements that make one wonder if the novel was at one point longer (what was with the fox, for example, and who was the lioness?).