The Princess and the Pea

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Lauren Child''s beautiful and artistic retelling of The Princess and the Pea.
The tale of a prince, a princess, perfect politeness, pages of love and a peculiarly hard pea. This utterly original interpretation of the classic tale has dazzling illustrations from multi-talented collaborators, award-winning Lauren Child and widely acclaimed photographer Polly Borland. This beautifully presented picture book explores the tale of the down-to-earth princess through a stunning mix of artwork and photography to create a fairy tale to be treasured.
Lauren Child is the multi-talented prize-winning creator of the characters Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean. She has won the Smarties Gold Award, Smarties Bronze Award, Kate Greenaway Medal and been shortlisted for the Children''s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Lauren lives in London.
Polly Borland is a widely acclaimed, award winning photographer, famous for her vivid portraits. She is one of the few people to have been allowed into to Buckingham Palace to photograph the Queen and has had her own exhibition at London''s National Portrait Gallery. Born in Australia, Polly now lives in Brighton but continues to work all over the world
Look out for Lauren Child''s Charlie and Lola books-
We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog; But Excuse Me That is My Book; My Collecting Sticker Book; My Picnic Sticker Book; My Very Busy Sticker Book; My Completely Best Story Collection; I''m Really Ever So Not Well; My Completely Best Story Collection; My Extremely Good Story Collection; Snow is my Favourite and My Best; We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog; My Especially Busy Box of Books; Whoops! But it wasn''t Me; I am Really, Really Concentrating; My Best, Best Friend; This is Actually My Party; I really Wonder What Plant I''m Growing; I Will Be Especially Very Careful; My Doodling and Colouring-In Book; Sizzles, Where Are You?; I Absolutely Love Animals; You Won''t Like this Present as Much as I Do; I am Inventing an Invention
And other books by Lauren Child-
The Princess and the Pea; The Secret Garden; Who Wants to be a Poodle? I don''t!; Maude, the Not-So-Noticeable Shrimpton; Clarice Bean; Ruby Redfort
%%%Lauren Child''s beautiful and artistic retelling of The Princess and the Pea.



The tale of a prince, a princess, perfect politeness, pages of love and a peculiarly hard pea. This utterly original interpretation of the classic tale has dazzling illustrations from multi-talented collaborators, award-winning Lauren Child and widely acclaimed photographer Polly Borland. This beautifully presented picture book explores the tale of the down-to-earth princess through a stunning mix of artwork and photography to create a fairy tale to be treasured.



Lauren Child is the multi-talented prize-winning creator of the characters Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean. She has won the Smarties Gold Award, Smarties Bronze Award, Kate Greenaway Medal and been shortlisted for the Children''s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Lauren lives in London.



Polly Borland is a widely acclaimed, award winning photographer, famous for her vivid portraits. She is one of the few people to have been allowed into to Buckingham Palace to photograph the Queen and has had her own exhibition at London''s National Portrait Gallery. Born in Australia, Polly now lives in Brighton but continues to work all over the world



Look out for Lauren Child''s Charlie and Lola books-



We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog; But Excuse Me That is My Book; My Collecting Sticker Book; My Picnic Sticker Book; My Very Busy Sticker Book; My Completely Best Story Collection; I''m Really Ever So Not Well; My Completely Best Story Collection; My Extremely Good Story Collection; Snow is my Favourite and My Best; We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog; My Especially Busy Box of Books; Whoops! But it wasn''t Me; I

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Shadow-box boudoirs and forest dioramas set the stages for this retelling, designed in flamboyant typefaces and populated by glamorous paper cutouts. Per usual, a king and queen seek a "princess of blue blood and equal in royalness to" their son. Yet the choosy prince, who's "romantic... but also a little dramatic," sighs that the paper dolls he meets (attired in delicately folded fabric or sparkly paper gowns) lack a "certain... something." While the prince pines, a young lovely "in a treetop house just over the mountain" decides to go for a moonlight stroll; multilayered silhouettes of stark trees and glittery midnight-blue sky suggest danger. Caught in a sudden storm, she arrives at the castle, where she dries off and undergoes the queen's famous pea ritual. Child (That Pesky Rat) emphasizes noble etiquette and this makes for a wee bit of suspense: although the princess aches after sleeping on 12 featherbeds and a pea, she hates to be rude to her hosts, and reluctantly admits to the special discomfort that makes her worthy of the prince. Child's personable voice, signature sloe-eyed characters and a savvy blend of script and italics, enliven the tale. But the main interest lies in the interior and exterior spaces, decorated with tiny glass vases, teeny Persian rugs, little chairs, sculpted shrubberies and electric candles. Photographed by Borland, the fixtures inspire envy in dollhouse enthusiasts and lend a "certain... something" to the gussied-up story. Ages 5-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 5-Child has expanded Andersen's tale from a one-page gem into a humorous picture book that will delight the whole family. Color photographs of a cleverly designed, three-dimensional miniature world of dolls reveal wonderful details. The mattresses-all 12 of them-are covered in multi-patterned cloth, tables and cupboards display real china plates, and a mirror reflects a princess sitting in her parlor. The prince says that he "wanted to marry for love." In an aside, Child comments, "He was just that kind of romantic boy." The prince now tells his parents: "I would gladly marry tomorrow but-she must be more mesmerizing than the moon and I must find her more fascinating than all the stars in the sky. And there must be a certain-something about her." The loving king and queen throw a royal ball so that their son can meet all the eligible princesses; unfortunately, not one fills the bill. He then decides to travel "far and wide" to look for a "real princess." It is not until he comes home that she appears at his door. We all know what happens then. Every library will want at least one copy of this fabulously funny and unique book.-Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

K-Gr. 3. The dollhouse crafts and the play are as much fun as the wry storytelling in this exuberant fractured version of the familiar fairy tale. Child adds a little zip to the narrative (You know what parents are like ), as the king and queen hunt for an appealing princess for their son. Unfortunately, they can't find one--until an adventurous, beautiful young woman takes a walk through the woods on a stormy night and takes shelter in the palace. She is a real beauty (you know how it is with these fairy tale types ), and the queen tests her by having the servants make up the bed with one tiny green pea beneath 12 feather mattresses. Kids will appreciate both the independent princess and Polly Borland's photos of the child's skillfully crafted, three-dimensional backdrops (with cut-paper characters), which Child briefly talks about at the end of the book. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist

Horn Book Review

A verbose over-extension of Hans Christian Andersen's pithy tale is made even more annoying by condescending asides and hectoring changes of font that prod readers-aloud to overemphasize words or phrases. Cleverly devised photos of expressive, fabric-clad paper figures in elaborately elegant dollhouse settings may recommend this for some larger, Andersen-loving collections. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Book Review

Between bright pink covers this frilly retelling of the Andersen story pairs a wordy text larded with italics to photos of elaborately appointed miniature rooms or semi-abstract landscapes into which Child has placed scribbly paper-cutout figures. It resembles a theatrical production with paper dolls. Declaring that his bride must be "more mesmerizing than the Moon," "more fascinating than all the stars in the sky," and also have "a certain . . . something," the Prince rejects all royal applicants, until at last along comes a real Princess who, being "a bright girl--as all real Princesses are--" accepts his proposal after passing his mother's princess test. (Picture book. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.