The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Jane Ray

I absolutely love Jane Ray’s books for children: her illustrations, laced with gold, are sumptuous and detailed with richly decorated borders and her prose sparkles and dances. I want to share ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses‘ with you today, adapted from the much loved fairytale from The Brothers Grimm. This book will particularly appeal to girls of all ages and has been a firm favourite in our family since buying the book after meeting Jane Ray in our local children’s bookshop (now sadly closed down), The Lion and the Unicorn, in Richmond, London.

‘They came to a garden of gold, where plump and delicious fruits hung down from the branches, burnished and bronzed.’

Jane Ray has written and illustrated a plethora of other books which I urge you to look at and also will share her love of art and story through workshops she gives as schools in the UK. I managed to get her into my children’s old school where she did a workshop on Mythical Beasts and from what I gather, they all absolutely loved it. To visit Jane’s website, click here and to see her other books click here.