K-Gr 3 This story of a princess chosen for her feelings rather than her beauty de serves retelling, and Bell's translation is smooth and fast-moving. All the charac ters in Tharlet's gentle gray and mauve pictures, even the ``old'' King and Queen, appear to be children in 18th-Century fan cy dress. Round-headed and with sharply- drawn cartoon faces, their short stature is exaggerated by the interesting, rafter-lev el perspective. The soft watercolors are particularly suitable for a story about re fined sensibility, as they create both the misty air and the comfortably elegant manor and furnishings of a small northern kingdom. Only the incongruity between the silly comic faces and the romantic set tings is disconcerting. Patricia Dooley, formerly at Drexel University, Philadel phia
'Dusikova's pictures are full of soft edges and soft colours, with pretty architectual details and an assortment of castle denizens, including a pair of cats and a toddler in a jester's motley. A rendering to bring a smile or possibly a giggle.'– Kirkus Reviews
'Beautifully illustrated, in a gentle and eye-catching style. It is told simply, yet brings the story to life in new ways... Children will enjoy putting their own words to this story and will be empowered to do so, even if they cannot read, by such humorous, soft and detailed pictures.'– Early Years Educator
'This is a wonderful version of the well-known tale, illustrated with charm and humour, with images that feel expansive and expressive in their detail.'– Juno Magazine
'This version of The Princess and the Pea... has everything, absolutely everything you could wish for... The well-known story is told eloquently and magically, with no post modern twists, just classical elegance. But it is Maja Dusikova's illustrations which make this a book sing. Beautiful, graceful, delicate, detailed, soft and luxurious, Dusikova's illustrations have tip-top fairy tale quality... An utterly delightful book, I don't know of any more charming version of this tale, traditionally told.'– Playing By The Book
This unadorned translation of Andersen's whimsical tale comes from a German edition of 2007. The pictures are pellucid: Readers see the prince coming home laden with paintings of various princesses who do not fit the bill. They see why on the next page: One princess is sticking out her tongue, and another is picking her nose, and so on. The king and queen are playing chess on that dark and stormy night when there is a knock at the door, and it is the king himself who trundles down the castle stairs, candle and key in hand, to let in a very damp and bedraggled princess. It is the queen who places a single pea on the bedframe and orders the 20 mattresses and 20 quilts to be laid atop it. Our heroine wakes to complain that she barely slept and is "black and blue all over!" The prince knows then he has found a real princess, and a wedding ensues. It ends with the puckish (and traditional) lines: "The pea was put in a museum, where it may still be seen. And that is a true story." Dusíková's pictures are full of soft edges and soft colors, with pretty architectural details and an assortment of castle denizens, including a pair of cats and a toddler in jester's motley. A rendering to bring a smile or possibly a giggle. (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8)
