Showing posts with label the worst princess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the worst princess. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
#Booky100Keepers Day 17: "The Worst Princess" by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)
Princess Sue rather loves her life but there's a huge weight of expectation on Princesses. They should be ladylike, they should wear fancy frocks, preen and primp themselves up for the delectation of any handsome Princes that might come along and ask them to marry them.
Princess Sue is having absolutely NONE of it, and when a would-be suitor decides to rescue her from a fearsome Dragon, Sue has other ideas - why not elope with the Dragon for a high adventure (and some cracking cups of tea) instead!
Around the same time as C was getting increasingly bored with some of the 'drippier' Princess books, this one came along like a bolt from the blue and she has loved it ever since she was 2 - and it still gets read today, that rare beast - a picture book that her mum loves and approves of (Mrs ReadIt has a very dim view of quite a few of the picture books we've received, read and reviewed over the years). So if you think getting your book past a kid is the peak of winning over a tough critic, getting my wife's approval is like finding a stream of pure gold.
Zany, brilliant and Sara's illustrations are always top notch in anything she illustrates, so this is irresistible.
Original Review Link:
https://readitdaddy.blogspot.com/2012/04/worst-princess-by-anna-kemp-and-sara.html
Monday, 4 November 2013
#ReadItMD13 Theme Week - "Swords and Sorcery - the realm of fantasy in children's books"
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| "The Hobbit (or there and back again) by J.R.R. Tolkien. Hugely influential. |
With fantasy series such as "Game of Thrones" and huge blockbuster movies such as "The Hobbit" making tills go cha-ching, it's never been a better time to devote an entire week to a much loved subject for children's books and for our #ReadItMD13 theme this week - dipping into swords and sorcery.
For me, The Hobbit was where it all started. It was one of the first 'big and proper' books I read, and it drew me in like nothing I'd ever read before. The tale of Bilbo Baggins and his comfortable everyday life being turned upside down while embarking on a quest to help the dwarves reclaim The Lonely Mountain and a fantastic treasure, guarded by the evil dragon Smaug.
Tolkien's gift was the ability to create worlds and characters that stayed in the memory long after the book covers were closed. With simple (but quite beautiful) illustrations, and of course now the huge draw of a whole cinematic world to refer to as well, Tolkien's books still set the standard for others to follow and have hugely influenced fantasy books for decades.
Following hot on his heels, another author also set children's literature alight with a fantasy series par excellence...
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| "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. A story for children, but one adults can't get enough of either. |
C.S. Lewis was a member of the "Inklings" (along with Tolkien), a band of Oxford academics who met to scribble down ideas in a pub just down the road from where I'm typing this (The Eagle and Child in Oxford). Squeezing into such a small (cosy) pub must've given the pair food for thought as they quaffed ale and dreamed up amazingly rich worlds. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia" stretches across several books but by far the most well known and well loved is "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe". Containing all the essential elements of a good fantasy yarn - evil monsters, fantastic heroes and an amazingly rich and inventive world, it's a book that has always been in my bookshelves in one form or another. Reading bits to Charlotte has been enjoyable, I always worry that classic stuff will be lost on her but Lewis' genius was to put children front and centre of the story as the heroes, and that makes it engaging to children of any age.
For slightly younger children there's still plenty to choose from when it comes to knights, dragons, swords and magic...
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| "The Worst Princess" by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie. The best princess, as far as we're concerned! |
We have to tread lightly, and comb through the usual "Brave Knight / Beautiful but helpless princess" books to find good ones but Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie's superb "The Worst Princess" ticks all the right boxes for us, and serves up a funny and entertaining story with a brilliant message for young girls. Princess Sue spends most of her life preparing for the day her handsome knight will arrive and whisk her off to his castle. Only when this finally happens, "The Worst Princess" realises that she actually prefers excitement, adventure - and silly pretty dresses are completely impractical when it comes to stomping the neighbourhood in search of fun.
It takes a dragon to stir things up a bit, and once our wonderful princess realises that dragons are rather fantastic as friends, she sets out on a whole new life of adventure with her new found friend - leaving the rather dozy (and slightly scorched) prince behind. Hooray!
There'll be plenty more to come during the week as we look at more books with a fantasy "swords and sorcery" theme. Stick with us for the week, it's going to be fantastic!
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