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Gray, Margaret. The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool. Illustrated by Randy Cecil. Henry Holt, 2002. ISBN 0805068473. $15.95. 167 pp. Reviewer: Elizabeth Meyers Reading Level: Intermediate, Young adult Rating: Excellent Genre: Fairy tale; Humorous story; Fantasy story; Subject: Beauty, Personal--Juvenile fiction; Magic--Juvenile fiction; Wisdom--Juvenile fiction; Books-Reviews; The princess Rose, born into a royal world obsessed with beauty, manages to win the friendship and love of her family despite her being rather unusually ugly. Content with her appearance, Rose becomes friends with the Jasper the Court Fool (secretly an illegal Wise Man) and enjoys life until the day the shockingly handsome Prince Parsley rides in to sample the local beauties. Rose's adventures from this point, involving a fairy godmother at sea, enchanted hair, and a berry juice covered ex-pastry chef who reveals alarming secrets, are wonderfully wacky, and everyone ends up happily ever after--more or less. Using common elements from traditional fairy tales, Margaret Gray successfully pokes fun at their obsession with beauty and love at first sight. She deals nicely with the weaknesses of her characters (Rose's sudden upsurge of selfishness as she discovers the need to be beautiful, or the king's outlawing all wise-men and wisdom from the land) while still allowing them to be likeable. Randy Cecil's illustrations are not exactly realistic, but are quite humorous, somehow managing to portray an abundance of character in a few simple lines and some cross-hatching. While not incredible, the book is certainly enjoyable and would be a great addition to any children's collection.Children's Book and Play Review, January 2003