Robin McKinley knows how to weave magic through the words of her stories, and magic flows freely through the four stories in The Door in the Hedge (Firebird 1981). Whether she spins an original tale or retells a an old favorite, I loved wandering through them to discover fairies and magic just around every turn of the page. What awaits in these four tales?

• The Stolen Princess – Linadel grows up a princess, but as she approaches her seventeenth birthday, the looming shadow of the neighboring fairyland grows darker. While living next to fairies can offer some advantages, it also threatens. Sometimes boys are stolen as infants, but girls are stolen on their seventeenth birthdays. No one knows why or where, just when. What will happen when Linadel leaves behind an empty bed strewn with flower petals and awakens in a strange land? I love these fairies that are both beautiful and eerie. I got chills reading it until the end.
• The Princess and the Frog – This has to be my favorite take on this fairy tale. Princess Rana has a problem: The evil Prince Aliyander has brainwashed her brother and wants to marry her to take over the kingdom. Her only hope comes when she meets a frog by the pond. The two form an alliance that might defeat the prince, as improbable as that seems. Oh yes, this princess is no spoiled brat. She is resourceful and determined and true to her word.
• The Hunting of the Hind – The Golden Hind leads all hunters to their doom. If they return, they are beyond help. Even the Prince lies near death after he chases her through the woods. The only one who dares to seek the Golden Hind now is his neglected little stepsister. Even though this princess is unloved by all but her brother, she sets out to find the Golden Hind and demand a cure for her brother. What she finds is not what she expects even as she is able to see truth beyond deception.
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses – A soldier’s life is a hard life, but after twenty years the soldier leaves to explore the Kingdom he has defended these many years. Along the way, he hears a strange story of twelve princesses under a curse and decides to offer his services to his king one last time. He discovers wondrous and terrible things, but it is his kindness and steadfastness that save the princesses.

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