Review of small press and independent books.
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Troubleblossom has a thing about princesses at the moment - I don't think she really understands what a princess is, she just likes wearing a crown - so I'm assembling a collection of worthwhile princess characters, and it's surprising how many there are when you start looking.
First on the list is the self-sufficient Princess Who Had No Kingdom, of whom an extensive review above. Troubleblossom is also very fond of the resourceful and courageous Princess Spaghetti in 'You Can't Eat a Princess' (Gillian Rogerson and Sarah McIntyre, 2010, Scholastic Children's Books), who takes the Royal Spaceship to rescue her father from man-eating aliens when the palace guard prove not to be up to the job, and is back in time for her birthday party (the squiggly cartoon illustrations get right up Mummy's nose, but you can't have everything). Then there's Princess Pearl in Julia Donaldson's 'Zog', who volunteers to be abducted by Zog the student dragon because life as a princess is so boring ('Don't rescue me! I won't go back to being a princess / And prancing round the palace in a silly frilly dress...') and eventually hits on a worthwhile career partnership for herself, the dragon and the knight who tries to rescue her.
Last edited by RDGardner (2011-09-05 12:49:44)
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Hmm, maybe a cheer and a half for the princess in Allan Ahlberg and Paul Howard's 'The Bravest Ever Bear' (Walker Books, 1999): refusing to marry a bear just because he sorted out the dragon that was terrorising the kingdom is good; climbing out of the page, sitting down at a typewriter and rewriting the story as 'The Perfectest Ever Princess' is fine; disposing of impertinent princes who think that climbing through her tower window is a good start for a relationship, excellent... but no marks at all, even though it's a joke from a grown-up point of view, for coming up with 'she moved into a flat with a couple of friends, started a career in television - and went shopping' as her happy-ever-after.
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