4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fabulously fruitful fairytale, November 22, 2008
This uplifting fairy tale is about an elderly king who tasks his three lovely daughters with doing something to "make [their] mark," the result of which will determine his successor as ruler of the kingdom. The first chooses shoes, the second, a mirror, and the third, "a simple wooden box" which is, in fact, filled with "seven magical things that the queen had collected when she was a little girl." The beautiful elder sisters build towers high into the sky to impress the people. But the youngest, "a little shy and quite ordinary" chooses to uses the magical things to plant seeds. Voila, days later she has created food for her future subjects and become the obvious choice.
With its splendid drawings and slightly different spin on the usual fairy tale (the apple pip theme and the fact that the princesses are women of color), The Apple Pip Princess is a refreshingly remarkable story. Also good: Barefoot Fairytales by by Malachy Doyle, Princess Tales edited by Nora Kramer, and A Book of Princesses by Sally Gardner.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it!, June 15, 2009
This review is from: The Apple-Pip Princess (Hardcover)
First things first: How many times, seriously, do you read a fairy-tale with a black protagonist? Particularly a real, honest-to-goodness princess? Not a merchant's daughter or a scholar's daughter or a randomly wealthy girl. Not a retelling of Goldilocks or Red Riding Hood.
The answer is probably never, unless you make a special effort. And even then... close to never.
This is not a traditional fairy tale, nor a retelling of one. But it reads like it is. Three princesses are competing to see which one will inherit the kingdom. Two of them go waaaaaay overboard and requisition all the metal and wood in the kingdom (even roofs and fences and bells) to build towers to aggrandize themselves. ("They'll be so happy to be ruled by me, they won't mind being poor and hungry!" Yeah, right. Plus, they're throwing people willy-nilly into the dungeon.)
The third, aptly named Serenity, fears she can't do anything, but she uses her mother's gift to try, and - with the gift and with help from the rest of her country - replants, apparently, the entire countryside. In a week. Well, there's some magic involved, and it flows together nicely.
The language is rich and deep, and very evocative. It is a bit of a long story, and some of the metaphors involved may go right over a smaller child's head - keep the 4 - 8 age range in mind.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My children love this book, April 14, 2010
I brought this book as I am a fan of Jane Ray's illustrations. I also liked that the book featured a royal family who are not blonde, and has a strong environmental message. I wasn't disappointed. My girl's and I have read this book together hundreds of times. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is powerful. My eldest daughter has been planting seeds from her fruit in little pots all over our house!
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