After starting to read aloud a superhero book that (in my opinion) was rather dull, I suggested to my five-year-old granddaughter that, instead, I read her another ‘Princess in Black’ book by Shannon and Dean Hale. Her parents like this series, and a few days ago I read her ‘The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem’. I thought it well-written and gently amusing in places.
So I decided to start ‘The Princess in Black takes a Holiday’.... and ended up reading the whole thing. The wording of the title is a clue that the authors are American, suggesting that the original title was ‘.. takes a vacation’, which would have been changed for the UK version. It feels slightly odd wording (‘goes on holiday’ would be the usual phrasing) but is such a minor point that I mention it because it’s the only clue that the book was originally written for children in the US. It works very well as a story for children anywhere.
Princess Magnolia is, secretly, ‘The Princess in Black’, and helps to solve all kinds of problems. In this story she has been fighting monsters all week, and really needs to sleep. She’s just about to doze off when the monster alarm goes off again… and she has to fight another one who wants to eat the goats.
The ‘fighting’ is nicely non-violent and the Princess is helped by ‘The Goat Avenger’, who is really her friend the goatherd in disguise. For some reason these characters are unable to recognise each other in disguise…the way it’s done is nicely ironic and made me smile.
The Goat Avenger insists he can deal with any problems that might occur, so the Princess goes on holiday,
without her parents being involved. However she’s only just starting to relax when there’s another crisis, so she has to leap into action again.
It’s not the greatest literature but it’s a fun story that appeals to young children, and is enjoyable to read aloud too. Recommended if you have a child who likes Princesses and super-heroes, particularly if you’d like something less fluffy or predictable than many of the books in these genres. For confident young readers as well as for parents and grandparents to read aloud.
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