Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George - also Beastly and The Mysterious Benedict Society

   I totally enjoyed this book.  I love re-tellings of fairy tales, and this is very well done.  It is the story of the "12 Dancing Princesses."  I never read the original story, but I've seen the Barbie movie version at least 10 times (my little granddaughters love it).  Anyway, this one is beautifully told and held my interest.  Just enough excitement at the end that I needed to read instead of doing anything else.
   I highly recommend it.

   While I am on the subject of fairy tales, an older book that I also highly recommend is Beastly by Alex Flinn.  It is a modern version of "Beauty and the Beast" but from the viewpoint of the beast - set in modern times New York City.  It is really clever and funny.  Loved it.

   Finally, one of my favorite series is The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.  These are technically middle school level, but I love them.  It involves 4 very intelligent and clever children who are accepted into Mr. Benedict's school.  They find themselves solving riddles and puzzles and situations, some very dangerous, as they proceed to save the world.  Right now there are 3 books, but I am always looking for more.  I have had students tell me they enjoyed them too.