From Kirkus ReviewsMark's watercolors add a misty flavor of magic to Picard's tender telling of her own fairy tale, in which a hero's true love for his bride is put to the ultimate test. Count Alaric is quite taken by a maiden's otherworldliness. He takes her to live in his castle, names her Catherine, and makes her his wife. He soon discovers that she is oddly distant because she is from another worldthe world of the fairieswith whom she dances on midsummer night. When Alaric asks a wise woman how to make his bride truly his, she can only say that his love for Catherine is not perfect. The next time she goes dancing, Alaric clings to her through shape-shifting, forcing her to remain by his side. When confronted with her genuine love for her family, and her obvious sorrow while she remains with him, he makes his peace with her. The story is mostly well told, with atmospheric watercolors from Marks, but the phrasing of the last sentence clanks horribly and nearly ruins the happy ending: ``love is perfect only when it will give up even the thing which it loves, for that thing's sake.'' (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.Product DescriptionRiding around his castle early one midsummer's day, Count Alaric stumbles upon a beautiful maiden. Smiling graciously, she says she does not know where she is from, or where she is going. He calls her Catherine and falls in love with her. And when she agrees to become his wife, Alaric hopesthey will live a long and happy life together.Yet every time Alaric looks into his young bride's eyes, she seems to be thinking of something else. One day he finds her dancing all by herself, with no music playing. Then he notices that every year she disappears from the castle on midsummer's eve, only to return at dawn with no memories of thenight past. He suspects there is a deep mystery in Catherine's past. What he does not know is that to save her, the Count has to sacrifice his love for her. This lyrical, romantic fairy tale is written by acclaimed children's author Barbara Picard and graced by Alan Marks's evocativewatercolors.Review"Marks's watercolors add a misty flavor of magic to Picard's tender telling of her own fairy tale."--Kirkus Reviews"Marks' misty, blue-shaded watercolors capture the delicacy and strength of Picard's original fairy tale, where the indefinable is powerful, and true love is part of the wind and sky."--Booklist