Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to be pretty ...Aza's singing is the fairest in all the land, and the most unusual. She can "throw" her voice so it seems to come from anywhere. But singing is only one of the two qualities prized in the Kingdom of Ayortha. Aza doesn't possess the other: beauty. Not even close. She's hidden in the shadows in her parents' inn, but when she becomes lady-in-waiting to the new queen, she has to step into the light-especially when the queen demands a dangerous favor. A magic mirror, a charming prince, a jealous queen, palace intrigue, and an injured king twine into a maze that Aza must penetrate to save herself and her beloved kingdom.

 

This book was recognised in the Middle Grade category by the Young Hoosier Book Award.

There are 352 pages in this book. This book was published 2008 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc .

Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and has been writing all her life. Her poems have been published in two anthologies of teenage poetry. She and her husband, David, collaborated on a children's musical that was produced by a theatre in Brooklyn. Today she, David and their airedale, Jake, live in a 200 year old farmhouse in Brewster, New York.