Dealing with Dragons is a young adult novel by Patricia C. Wrede. It puts a spin on the everyday fairytale, though it is filled with magic, dragons, princes, princesses, witches, and wizards.
The basis of the book is an anti-princess, Cimorene, who does not look or act like a proper princess should. To begin with she has long dark hair instead of blond hair and she would rather learn magic and sword fighting than proper etiquette or needle point. When the King and Queen are at their absolute wits end they decide to marry her off to Prince Thenadril. Cimorene is horrified at this thought and thus decides she must do something. Thanks to a frog she is given the idea to become a dragon's princess, which is actually a highly respectable position.
After following the frog's explicit instructions she meets Kazul who agrees to take her on as her princess. Cimorene soon finds herself immersed in cooking, cleaning, cataloging the library, and organizing the treasure rooms. She loves it all. Then the princes begin showing up.
Cimorene does her best to politely tell the princes she does not in fact need rescuing, but they find this odd and not at all "proper". This is when the real trouble begins and with the help of a witch she decides to hang a sign to deter the princes. While on her way to hang the sign far enough away from the caves she runs into a wizard which is a very odd occurrence as they are not allowed in dragon territory.
From there the reader is caught up in a spellbinding adventure and mystery as Cimorene and Kazul try to figure out what it is the wizards are after and if one of the dragons is really in cahoots with the wizards. This book was a quick read and I highly recommend it not only for teens, but adults as well. The dialogue is witty and humorous and Cimorene is like no other princess. It is a great escape from the usual fairytale.
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