Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl

“Her name is Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, and she is lovely as the dawn. But that is only one of her problems. There’s also the matter of those three magical gifts of treasure bestowed on her by a mysterious old woman. King Claudio the Cruel wants to marry her for her beauty and her wealth, and so does his rival, Prince Edmund of Dorloo. That’s two more problems. Worst of all, she is locked up in a tower, with a grille of iron bars and several hundred tons of stone between her and freedom. Clearly the only thing to do is escape-- and that’s what Alexandria does, aided by her twelve darling goose companions.”

The past few times I have been at the library I have seen this on the suggested reading shelf; I liked the cover but never really stopped to look at it. Finally, I decided I would see what it was about, after reading the inside cover I decided to check it out. It is definitely meant for younger audiences, but I thought it was a fun quick read. It has a nice fairly-tale feel to it and the story was cute. I liked our heroine Alexandria, but was disappointed in Prince Edmund. At first he is portrayed as goof, and unfortunately that doesn’t change throughout the book. There were a few loose ends that weren’t quite tied up and the only other thing that bothered me was how many times the author used the word “Twas”, which drove me crazy. Other than that, if you are looking for a quick, lighthearted read than this is a great choice. I couldn’t help imagining if I had a daughter I could read this with, I think it would be a fun book to read with your children.