The Princess and the Pea - Hardcover

Isadora, Rachel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752512315 ISBN 13: 9780752512310

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, 2007

Synopsis

When a prince sets out to find a princess to marry, he soon discovers this is not a simple task. There is no shortage of so-called princesses, but how can he tell whether or not they are what they claim to be? Then one night, a great storm rages, there’s a knock on the palace gate, and the prince’s life is never the same.

Caldecott Honor–winning artist Rachel Isadora exquisitely illustrates this retelling of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and takes readers to a beautiful African setting—a first for the "true story" of a tiny pea that changed everything.

About this title

About the Author

Rachel Isadora recived a Caldecott Honor for Ben’s Trumpet and is the author of the popular Lili at Ballet series. She lives in New York City.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2—Isadora drops her simplified and humorless retelling of Andersen's tale into an African setting without adding meaningful cultural context to this story of a prince who travels the continent looking for a wife. Africa is treated as one culture except for three spreads that show individual princesses. These spreads are wordless except for a phrase: "Iska Waran," "Selam," or "Jambo, Habari." No translation is provided in the body of the book, so readers only learn on the last page that the words mean "hello" in three different languages. Awkward phrasing like "What a sight the rain and the wind had made her look" slows the pace of the story. Isadora uses oil paints on palette paper and decorative print paper to interpret the story visually and infuses her art with exuberant color and stylized figures. The prince and his entourage appear as shadowy figures that contrast dramatically with the deep reds and oranges of a setting sun. The three princesses are vividly portrayed: one is covered in body tattoos and looks menacing, another has light skin and an elegantly long neck covered in multicolored jewelry, and a third is dark and heavy. Faces exhibit paint strokes and look flat with minimal expression. One effective spread shows the "real" princess perched on top of "twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses" as she complains to the king and queen that she is "black and blue all over." An additional purchase.—Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma County Library, CA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0752512315
• ISBN 13: 9780752512310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Isadora Rachel