Selected by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education as one of the 2004 Best Children’s Books for the Year

In the grand tradition of fairy tales, a king becomes lost in an enchanted forest. In order to save himself, he strikes a dreadful bargain with an elderly witch: he will marry her daughter if only she will show him the way home.

The king fears that the daughter too is a witch, so he hides his eleven sons and his only daughter from the woman he has pledged to marry.

After his marriage, his new queen discovers the children and casts a spell, turning the princes into swans. But she doesn’t know there is a twelfth child, a princess. It is up to the princess to find her brothers and break the spell that binds them.

Renowned storyteller Ken Setterington has borrowed from European folk traditions, including the Brothers Grimm, to tell a timeless story.

Nelly and Ernst Hofer’s exquisite paper cut art make this a beautiful book for reading and for gift giving.