McKinley has the grace to suggest that ""Any reader who is pleased. . .by this book should read the original."" So they should; though this edition is shorter by half, it is no less difficult since she has retained MacDonald's comic, ironic, but elaborate prose (pruning it skillfully, to be sure). Treherne's flamboyantly lavish pen-and-watercolors will surely attract readers, so there is probably a place for this edition in our impatient, visually-oriented world. But the edition of choice for this classic spoof about a princess who lacks gravity in every sense is still the unabridged one, unobtrusively illustrated by Maurice Sendak with love and sensitivity as well as humor.