Customer Reviews

All the king's horses

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember having this book read to me as a kid, our aging old granny of a teacher who was a dedicated feminist read it to us not once but twice during a single month. I must say as a male the ending I thought was offensive and uncalled for, and I remember being quite shoced with it at the time. What did the woodcutter do to deserve his punishment exactly? being handsome and mucular? being poor? trying to woo the princess and not fight her? he is sincere and kind and she just kicks the poor guys ass.

as the previous reviewers stated, this is a great book for girls.
I picked up a copy at the local second hand book store. I read it to my primary school class, and they loved it -well the girls did anyway!
It has a great character the girls really loved, the Princess is beautiful, strong and certainly not a damsel in distress. She prefers to wrestle and explore the lands on her horse. She loves independence and goes against her father because she refuses to marry. The princess finally strikes a deal wwith her father she will marry a man =but only one she cannot defeat in a wrestling match, for every man she throws out of the ring 100 horses will be freed.
So she wrestles the Kings men, dominating each one ,muscleman after muscleman. It really is a hoot when they go end up bruised, broken limbed and crying, after thier macho declarations that a 'mere woman' will be easy to defeat.(well the girls loved it anyway!)
The last wrestler, a handsome musclebound woodcutter tries to trick the princess, but she outwits him, outwrestles him, and overpowers him, saving her most crushing and embarresing defeat for him, his bulging muscles are no match for the princesses inner strength and power. (this hot hunk is no-longer such a prettyboy once the princess is through with him!)Its a rousing and funny climax amusingly drawn by the illustrator.
This is definitley a well written excellently drawn and fun book, with an important message of female strenght and independence, comes with my highest recommendation.

the message is of anti-sexism and sexual equality. This book is a great empowerng picture book for girls, and also as valuableto read to boys, it shows to them to respect women, and a good message for young boys seem to worship the macho world of wrestling and musclemen; a big muscular body dosn't add up to being strong or tough.

An excellent but rare book by top-line children's author Michael Foreman. This is definitley a book aimed at girls. A tough free-spirited Princess defeats a whole nation of men who want to have her hand in marriage -freeing all the horses in the process.
Warrior, Wrestler, Boxer, musclemen and lumberjacks, she beats them all.
Superbly illustrated and written by Foreman, this is a special treat.

this a rare book, but it is definitely worth seeking out.
A terrific feminist fairytale! A king wants his daughter -a beautiful princess- to settle down and marry a man. But the princess doesn't want to -she has yet to meet a man she respects, or who is as strong as her, she wants to contnue to ride the plains nn her horse. So she makes a deal with her father; she agrees to marry a man but only if that man is able to beat her in a wrestling match and for every prospective husband who she beats up, 100 horses will be freed from the kingdom.
The King announces this proposition to the men in the kingdom, and soon men are lining up to fight the princess.
The book ends with the princess defeating all the men of the kingdom and all the horses of the kingdom being released.
As I said this is a tremendous feminist fairytale, a great story of 'girls can do anything' female empowerment,it definitely has a great message for girls; continue on with your life the way YOU want, and don't bow down to a sexist male dominated society.
The best childrens book I've ever read.

An clever fairytale/fable which skewers sexism and masculinity. The princess in this book is a girl who gets things done her own way, and won't let anything stand in her way. Not even an entire kingdom of macho musclemen wres tlers. I really liked this book, especially the climactic endinginvolving a hunky musclebound himbo who gets twisted and bent into the shape somewhat resembling the shape of a pretzel!! OUCH!!

read this to my daughter and she loved it! she loved the story and the pictures, even my son liked it because of the wrestling, I like how the subject is more mature and intelligent than the average kids book. It definitely has big themes behind the fun. and I like that the princess stays free and never marries unlike other fairytales

An unconventional fairy-tale about a rather robust princess who flouts convention by creating difficulties when it comes to getting herself a rich husband. She does not exactly intend riding off into the sunset either! Well written and humourously drawn (I don't think I've even seen guys with more bruises and nroken limbs) the book serves an important message for girls.

entertaining fairytale about wrestling princess who fights uys to free enslavedhorses. Funny fairytale with good role model character for girls.

A good fairytale, with a feminist twist.
A King offers the hand of his magnificent daughter to any suitor who can wrestle as well as she, and asks one hundred horses of every man who is thrown from the ring
Sadly an underappreciated aad rare book. Worth seeking out.