Customer Reviews

The Apple-Pip Princess

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

With four Ethiopian daughters, you can bet I appreciated the lovely drawings depicting these African American princesses right down to their beautiful ringlets and puff ponytails. But this story goes way beyond its beautiful pictures. The words flow. The storyline sparkles. This book is a winner all the way around. We borrowed it from the library, but I may just need to purchase it for my children.

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!

This is a lovely story for girls... Finally a break from the typical 'she was so beautiful and therefore he chose to marry her...' cinderella-type stories... A great story that promotes good values based on true virtues and good deeds for girls. Wonderful book with beautiful illustrations. A must read for all 3, 4, 5 and even 6 year olds! Girls or boys.

This is the fifth time I am buying this book for a gift for 3-5 year old girls, so figured I should probably share how much I love it! It is such a lovely story, combining both princess fantasy world with real world values about priorities, friendship, cooperation, taking care of the earth and real beauty. I love to give it as a gift for little girls, and my 5 year old boy also loves to read it several times over before we wrap it up!

My daughter and I took this book out of the library because she would only read books about princesses. This turned out to be such a nice story with a good moral underlay to it. We have taken it out from the library enough times that I am finally buying a copy for my daughter's preschool graduation gift. We just love it!

My family absolutely loves this book! From the rich, transporting illustrations, to the sensitive and thought-provoking story it is a pleasure to open this book each and every time. It always brings a tear to my eye! It is also wonderful to expose my child to a royal family that is of a different ethnicity than what she usually sees in fairy tale books. Highly recommed this book!

My three grandchildren are loving this book. I sent it because I read a review in the paper and it sounded like something they would like. I didn't even know the five year old twins had just finished studying about Johnnie Appleseed in school. Now they think Grammy is super, and I didn't even write it.The Apple-pip Princess

We have only recently become members of our local Friends' Meeting and our 7yo was looking for books with Quaker themes. This one was perfect without being preachy or going over her head. She wrote a little "report" for it in her journal and talked about the things she thought the princess learned (meaning what *she* learned) and has since written short stories in a similar vein.