princesses

Review: The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp

| Tasha

worst princess

The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie

Girl power is celebrated in this picture book that turns the princess role firmly on its head.  Princess Sue has been lingering in her castle for over 100 years, waiting for her prince to come and rescue her.  Just as she is about to lose it, her prince appears on horseback and whisks her off.  But just as Sue thinks that she is heading to freedom, the prince arrives at his castle where Sue is given her own tower filled with dresses and shoes and informed that she shouldn’t even be thinking of adventures.  But Sue refuses to give up on her dreams and when she sees a fearsome dragon flying nearby, she gets a clever idea.

I must admit to a certain adoration for books that take girls away from the stereotypical princess role and make them active participants in their own destinies.  So this book is right up my alley.  Told in rhyme, the effect is dashing and active rather than sweet and stately.  It also has the feel of a bard’s story about Princess Sue.  The writing is also humorous and fun-filled.

The illustrations of the book are bright-colored and also filled with humor.  Sue’s long braids dangle down, her dress changes as the story progresses, and the sharing of tea with a dragon is definitely something to see. 

Get this in the hands of modern children who want to be more than princesses (and princes) as well as dragon-lovers.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: A Gold Star for Zog by Julia Donaldson

| Tasha

gold star for zog

A Gold Star for Zog by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Zog is a young dragon who desperately wants to win a gold star in his dragon classes.  Unfortunately, he isn’t having much luck.  Flying classes ended with him crashing into a tree, though he was patched up with a band-aid from a young girl.  In Year Two, Zog learned how to roar.  The same girl, a little older now, offered him a peppermint for his scratchy throat after he tried too hard.  The next year, Zog learned how to breathe fire but set his own wing on fire.  Again, the girl was there to bandage his wing.  The final test was to capture a princess.  Zog tried and tried, but could not manage it.  The girl showed up and revealed herself as a princess and offered to be captured by Zog.  Zog got a gold star from his teacher, and the princess revealed herself to want to be a doctor instead.  To find out how it all works out, you will have to quest into the story for yourself.

Told in a rhyme that is great fun to read aloud, this book is fanciful and humorous.  Donaldson has nicely melded dragons and princesses with a classroom setting, achievement and aspiring to be something else.  The princess character is nicely integrated throughout the story, though at first readers are not sure she is anything other than a girl with a medical kit.  That reveal is done nicely and then her further dreams to be something else add a freshness to the tale.

Scheffler has created zingy art filled with bright colors, action and plenty of prat falls.  The class of dragons in a rainbow of colors alone is enough to brighten any book.  Scheffler’s style keeps the dragons friendly and cartoon-like, making the book particularly fun to read. 

A great pick for reading aloud to elementary and preschool classes, this book’s dragons and humor will have it soaring high.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett

| Tasha

princess and the pig

The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Poly Bernatene

I have to admit, I came to this book with a lot of reservations.  It’s ANOTHER princess book in a time filled with sparkly pink books.  But if you are as sick of the regular princess books as I am, then this is just the book for you!   A farmer had a little pig in the back of his hay cart.  He decided to name it Pigmella.  At the same time, in the tower high above, a queen picked up her baby daughter and decided to name her Priscilla.  But the queen dropped the baby out of the window without noticing and up flew the piglet in her place.  Soon the piglet was being treated as a princess and the princess was happily adopted by the farmer and his wife.  After all, this sort of thing happens all the time in books!  The princess was happy at the farm, growing up and making everyone happy.  Unfortunately, the same thing can’t be seen of the piglet, who grew into a pig, could not learn to read, and refused to wear her finery.  But what is to happen when the mix-up is discovered and the young woman is told she is a princess?

Emmett has inundated his book with references to other fairy tales that the characters in the book use to rationalize what has happened.  They blame things on evil fairies and magic, which is why the mix-up is not discovered for so long.  The writing is merry and filled with humor.

That same humor is carried out to great effect in the illustrations.  They are filled with the funny things that would happen if a pig were a princess, the pomp and ceremony that would still be attempted, and the gentle, loving family of farmers raising a real princess.  The illustrations are done so that the characters pop on a softer background.  The jolly nature of the book is embraced in full here.

Exactly the antidote to children who have read too many princess books, this is a shining example of what a twisted fairy tale book can be.  Great fun and very satisfying.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Clever Jack Takes the Cake

| Tasha

Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

The creators of Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! return with a delightful fairy tale.  Jack is invited to the princess’ tenth birthday but has nothing to fine enough for a present.  But then Jack has a great idea, he will bake her a birthday cake.  He didn’t have enough money to buy ingredients, so he had to trade for them, work for them, or make them on his own.  Finally it was finished.  Two cake layers, frosting, ten candles, walnuts and a big strawberry.  Jack sets off to the party, but his way is not easy.  Blackbirds fly at him and steal the walnuts from the top of the cake.  To cross a bridge he has to give a troll half of the cake.  The candles are used up escaping a dark, frightening wood.  A bear eats the last of the cake, but not the strawberry.  So all Jack has to give the princess is the big, juicy berry.  But he still has to get into the castle and all the way to the princess.

When I opened this book, it was like returning back to a beloved tale.  Fleming and Karas have created a new tale with the soul of a classic.  From the premise of the poor boy taking a present to the series of disasters, readers will find themselves happily on familiar ground.  That is not to say that there are not surprises, there are and they are great fun!

Fleming’s writing is adroit, offer just the right amount of text per page, just the right amount of detail, and pacing the book perfectly for young listeners.  Her prose is a joy to read aloud, the phrasing fitting perfectly in the mouth.  This is quite simply a book that must be shared aloud.

Karas’ art is winningly done.  Jack’s mop of messy hair, his skinny frame, the dramatic moments of the birds, the troll, and the bear that have great perspectives.  He also plays with the background, washing the illustration of Jack’s home with a dull overlay, gradually blending from white to a warm pink when the princess enters the book.  All of the small details add up to a richness and charm that really add so much to this book.

A delight, this book must be shared to be fully enjoyed.  This is one that must be added to any story time or unit on birthdays, cake, or fairy tales.  But it should also become one of those books that you use any old time when you need a winner.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Schwartz & Wade.

Princess Hyacinth

| Tasha

Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Lane Smith.

Released September 22, 2009.

Princess Hyacinth had a very distinct problem:  she floated.  Unless she was tethered to something, she would float up and up.  So she wore a heavy crown with a strap to hold in on and had weights in her hems and socks.  She was allowed to float indoors because they could get her back down, but she was never allowed to float outdoors.  As she watched the children play outside, a boy who could fly his kite higher than anyone else came and said hello. Princess Hyacinth ventured outside with all of her heavy weights on and noticed a man selling balloons.  Because she was the princess, her wish to be tethered in the bunch of balloons was granted.  But when the string breaks, where does that leave the princess as she floats up and up into the sky?

The tone that this book is written in will have you smiling.  It has a certain confidence and silliness that makes it irresistible.  And it has obviously been written to read aloud to children.  The book design itself is clever, as words float very high on the page when the Princess is floating.  The size of text is played with as is the color, making reading it aloud that much more pleasurable.  Heide’s writing is paired perfectly with Smith’s art.  The illustrations match what is happening on the page with a heaviness to the art when the princess is tied down and a lightness when she is in the air.  As with all of Smith’s art, there is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to many of the pictures which will be appreciated by adults and children alike.

Highly recommended, this is a wonderful read-aloud for classrooms or story times.  This is a princess story that all children will enjoy, which you can’t say often!  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.