Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer.

Funke, author of the deep and dark Inkheart series for older children, also writes fantastic light-hearted picture books. 

In this picture book, Funke tells the story of Princess Isabella who doesn’t want to be neat and clean any longer!  In fact, she is tired of being a princess altogether.  After she throws her crown in the fishpond and refuses to retrieve it, her father the King sends Isabella to the kitchens to work until she reconsiders and fetches her crown.  Isabella loves her time in the kitchens getting messy and learning new things.  When she refuses again to get her crown back, she is sent to live in the pigsty.  Again she takes to her new surroundings, loving the mess and smell and pigs.  Her father must find another way to get her to reconsider.

Now I know how people who read books to children select them.  They open the cover and look at how much text is on each page.  If you do that with a Funke picture book, you will not pick them up.  Please, look past that seemingly large amount of text and given them a try even with preschoolers.  Funke’s prose is fast moving, funny and a treat to read aloud.  There are no dull moments, no wasted words, because she uses words to offer a deeper and more enjoyable story. 

Recommended for reading aloud to preschoolers through first graders.