Ella Enchanted is a retelling of the classic fairy tale. Since its 1997 publication, Levine has produced three more variations of other well-known stories: The Princess Test, The Fairy's Mistake, and Princess Sonora and the Eong Sleep. Their lighthearted tone follows William Brooke's fractured fairy tales.

The Princess Test follows Hans Christian Andersen's "Princess and the Pea," adding a disgruntled housekeeper who would do the heroine in and a blacksmith's daughter who is born with uncommon qualities.

Though not one drop of royal blood flows through her veins, Lorelei possesses not only the traditional qualifications to rule, including the bruises caused by sleeping on a pea but the more modern requirement of a compassionate heart. The Fairy's Mistake retells Perrault's tale, "Toads and Diamonds." Twin sisters, Myrtle and Rosella, are bewitched by Ethelinda. Snakes and insects slither from Myrtle's mouth when she speaks; jewels tumble from Rosella's...