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Selected by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education as one of the 2004 Best Children’s Books for the Year In the grand tradition of fairy tales, a king becomes lost in an enchanted forest. In order to save himself, he strikes a dreadful bargain with an elderly witch: he will marry her daughter if only she will show him the way home. The king fears that the daughter too is a witch, so he hides his eleven sons and his only daughter from the woman he has pledged to marry. After his marriage, his new queen discovers the children and casts a spell, turning the princes into swans. But she doesn’t know there is a twelfth child, a princess. It is up to the princess to find her brothers and break the spell that binds them. Renowned storyteller Ken Setterington has borrowed from European folk traditions, including the Brothers Grimm, to tell a timeless story. Nelly and Ernst Hofer’s exquisite paper cut art make this a beautiful book for reading and for gift giving.