While looking after my grandchildren, I often read books aloud to them; both read for themselves but they still love hearing stories. And it’s always a good way to help them relax, or calm down if they have become a bit hyper. So when I asked for suggestions, they agreed that they would like to hear one of their favourites: ‘The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem’, by Shannon and Dean Hale.
Apparently this book is the eighth in the ‘Princess in Black’ series; but, I’m told, they’re all good books with different stories rather than being too formulaic. It opens with a rather bored Princess who wants to have a party, and her ‘pet’ who would like to see his friends too. Then suddenly the Princess has become a masked ‘Princess in Black’, and is out playing in the snow. I didn’t quite understand what caused this transition, unless it was her boredom.
Suddenly a giant appears, stamping over the snow, causing havoc as he tramples on buildings; the Princess and her two friends and their companions attempt to stop him but he barely notices them, his only word being, bizarrely, ‘SQUASHY’, which he keeps saying - and which my grandchildren found hilarious.
The Princess sends out a help signal, and some of her other friends join her, along with some who are apparently new to the series, each one with a ‘pet’, disguised as something else. I was pleased to note that there were some male as well as female ‘heroes’, both human and animal, and that they worked together to attempt to stop the giant in its tracks.
I wasn’t expecting the ‘twist’ in the story - apparently my grandchildren weren’t, either, when it was first read to them - and it makes for a very satisfactory ending.
The writing is good, the pace just right for me to keep reading, and there’s some humour even if it appealed more to an eight-year-old and a five-year-old more than it did to me. It’s written as a book for newly fluent readers, and my older grandchild has read it for himself but that doesn’t stop them enjoying a shared story, read aloud - and I was glad they asked me to read it.
Suitable for any age, really, but probably intended for children of around four to eight.
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