Alison and the Prince

by Mark Dunn

Like Sheldon's Alison, this is a gleefully subversive take on a classic tale—but told entirely through letters and documents that gradually lose letters of the alphabet. Dunn shares Sheldon's gift for making you laugh at the absurdity while the protagonist refuses to accept the world as it's been handed to her, and the inventive form keeps the pages turning despite the 'easy vocabulary' constraint.

by Diana Wynne Jones

Sophie is Alison's spiritual cousin—a young woman who doesn't fit the mold of what a heroine 'should' be, and who spends much of the book telling people exactly what she thinks of them. Jones writes with the same brisk humor and contemporary sensibility (despite the fantasy setting), and Sophie's refusal to be impressed by Howl's charm mirrors Alison's complete indifference to the Prince's title.

by Clifford D. Simak

A 1968 science fiction novel that shares Sheldon's irreverent humor about taking nothing too seriously—here, a professor wakes up in a future where goblins, elves, and other creatures are being preserved like endangered species. It's got that same playful deflation of 'proper' storytelling conventions, and the protagonist navigates absurdity with the same unflappable common sense Alison brings to the ball.

by Patricia C. Wrede

This Regency-era fantasy told through letters between two cousins has Alison's same energy—young women who are clever, practical, and utterly unimpressed by the romantic nonsense society expects of them. Wrede writes with genuine affection for her characters' quick wit and their willingness to meddle in magical affairs rather than wait passively for rescue, and the epistolary form keeps it as readable and brisk as Sheldon's short text.

by George MacDonald

Here's your surprise pick: a genuinely kind-hearted fantasy novel where the protagonist's superpower is refusing to play court games and insisting on treating people decently. Like Alison at the ball, Maia walks into an impossible situation and responds by being refreshingly, almost stubbornly authentic rather than adopting the expected role. It's got warmth where Sheldon has sass, but that same core belief that being yourself is more interesting than being what others want.