Customer Reviews

The Birthday Ball

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A spoiled princess you can't help but love, a cadre of princes you love to hate, quirky but well-meaning parents, plus peasants who sing and encourage... a delightful mix to read. The ending is somewhat predictable, but it's fun to watch the characters develop and ultimately come together. The terrible princes are entrancing like a train wreck--"he smoothed his hair and then wiped his hand free of the hair oil, using the bedsheet and leaving a smear of black dye," while the peasants are unexpectedly helpful and encouraging--some serving maids sing in three-part harmony, hoping to be noticed and promoted, while the pulley boy is positively attractive. With characters like this, it's not surprising to see a non-traditional ending that's still quite satisfying.

As a parent, I appreciated the vocabulary words that were introduced in a fun way, such as "don't be avaricious, Delicious" (said to a cat), or neighboring kingdoms named Analgesia, Coagulatia, Dyspepsia... the words are worth a laugh for kids who know them or look them up, but not distracting for others. There are enough dresses and romance for any girl who'd pick up a book titled "The Birthday Ball," and yet the book avoids the traditional trap of implying these are life's ultimate goals. As a children's lit fan, I enjoyed the book, and as a parent, I enjoyed the things it subtly teaches.

Princess Patricia Priscilla has every luxury a royal girl could want, but she's utterly bored. Not even the prospect of a huge ball in honor of her sixteenth birthday within the next few days can catch her interest. Then she comes up with a marvelous plan. She'll borrow her maid's "rustic" clothing, go down to the village below the castle, and live like a peasant. The first person she meets in the village is an eighteen-year-old, first-time school teacher named Rafe. He's as kind as he is handsome, but Rafe works hard to be firm with his students and command respect, especially from "Pat," the name the princess gives him.

Lois Lowry is a wonderful writer. She tells this story in a comic, fairy-tale voice which allows us to peek into the heads of all sorts of characters, from the kitchen staff to the princess, to the school master, to the horrible suitors who want to marry the young princess. And each character's perspective is unique and very funny.

This story has a very upbeat ending that is just what one might hope it would be without it being predictable. Precocious readers from second grade could appreciate this book, and girls all the way through sixth grade might enjoy it as well.

I just finished reading The Birthday Ball. As I read the first chapter, I was reminded of what a wonderful writer Lois Lowery is. Her descriptions were vivid, yet fun. At first, I was put off by the illustration on the cover, but as I opened up the book, I enjoyed the other illustrations much more. The illustrations remind me a bit of some of Roald Dahl's books. And this book actually reminds me of a few of his stories as well.

The plot as many reviewers share in their reviews is about a princes who pretends to be a princess for a few days and attends the village school. In 5 days, she is to have a birthday ball where she will choose a suitor to be her husband. She dreads the event, but enjoys every moment in the school. The suitors are to be dreaded by their descriptions, but that makes the end all the more fun.

This story truly is a fun fairy tale. It is refreshing that the princess cares about people and not just herself. She is a good example of how to care about other people. I think this story would be good for 4th-6th graders. There is some description of the men and their physique, but it's far more tame than most tween books, I fear. And for that, I am glad. I would be comfortable reading this aloud with my daughters when they are in 4th grade or for them to read it on their own in 5th or 6th grade. This is a very innocent and fun book which I loved as a parent.

Lois Lowry is such a gifted author that it is a bit confusing to me why she would write a book like this one. It's not that it's a terrible book---it's a light fairy tale, one that does what many books before it have done, twisted the fairy tale conventions around a bit and let the princess be strong willed and the princes who wish to marry her foolish. That's combined with a bit of "The Prince and the Pauper" role switching and some light romance, and we have a silly book, but not a horrible one. But why? This isn't original or particularly well written. Parts of it were a bit over the top with rather immature "poopy" type humor. There are plays on words that aren't really funny, surprises that aren't too surprising and a bit of politically incorrect making fun of conjoined twins. I can't see this book becoming a classic or a favorite or particularly being remembered at all, and this is the same author who wrote The Giver or Number the Stars or A Summer to Die? Is she is need of money? I really just don't get it.

I love Lois Lowry, and as an elementary school teacher, have read all of her work and shared it with many students. However, this book was a let down. It started off well, but contained many unflattering words that are not appropriate for children. Also the ending seemed incomplete and rushed. I was disappointed in the quality of this story though the plot and characters offered promise, but in the end did not live up to the greatness of Lois Lowry.

Book Talk: Princess Patricia Priscilla is not looking forward to her sixteenth birthday ball. At it she will have to decide who to marry and each of her suitors is more repulsive than the next: Duke Desmond of Dyspepsia who is as ugly and irritable as a warthog and forbids all mirrors in his kingdom, Prince Percival of Pustula who has altogether too many mirrors and a heart as black as his oily hair, and the Conjoint Counts Colin and Cuthbert who never have enough time to care about something like mirrors because they are constantly squabbling. So, Princess Priscilla decides to escape her boring castle life for one week before her ball and see what it's like to go to school as a normal village child. Her birthday is fast approaching, but she doubts she will ever get her wish.

Rocks my Socks: This book was absolutely charming. A light-hearted fairy tale full of rhymes, alliteration, and simple morals. The characters are the kind of ridiculous caricatures you'd expect from a fairy tale and the ending and the whole story is satisfying in the simplicity with which it wraps up everyone's problems. The illustrations by Feiffer are delightful and set the perfect tone.

Rocks in my Socks: The plot is definitely basic and predictable, but it's meant to be. There wasn't anything to really sink your teeth into and all the characters and morals were pretty superficial, but that's also appropriate to the style Lowry seemed to be going for.

Every Book its Reader: I'd recommend it for children of all ages. I don't know if many boys would read it based on its title and cover, but there's actually a fair amount of potty humor in there thanks to the twins (along with the much-needed moral that this isn't always appropriate) so I think that they'd enjoy it if they did pick it up. For that reason it might make a good read-aloud book. The book is, as I said, really basic and juvenile so I wouldn't recommend it to adults as a serious read, but because it's a very quick read it might be a fun few hours for adults wishing to reconnect with their inner child.


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I've recently become a father to a beautiful, four-month old baby girl. My wife and I, both elementary teachers, have already begun to fill her bookshelves with books like PINKALICIOUS and FANCY NANCY. I mention this only because a book like THE BIRTHDAY BALL is not a book I would normally gravitate to. I'll blame it on a new-found second nature, the grabbing of the lavender covered book, adorned with a sloppily drawn princess front and center, off our local library's shelf. But truth be told, it's authored by none other than Lois Lowry. The Lois Lowry of NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER fame. So on the record, it was because of my princess of a daughter that I grabbed this book. Off the record, I actually wanted to read it!

Princess Patricia Priscilla is terribly bored. Her mother cannot hear a word she says and her father is too busy tending to his collection of butterflies to care what she's up to. So bored she sits, in her castle, day after day with her chambermaid Tess tending to her every need. Until one day, Patricia coerces Tess into borrowing her identity and disguising herself as a peasant. She wants to dirty herself up. She wants to play in the streets, unnoticed. More than anything, she wants to go to school. But there's one problem. In mere days, Princess Patricia Priscilla will turn sixteen. And according to the Law of the Domain, age sixteen is when she must become a bride. Three unlikely suitors are traveling from far and wide to make their intent to marry public at Princess Patricia Priscilla's sweet sixteen Birthday Ball. But what will Princess Pat's intentions be?

This book was not at all what I expected. Here I was feeling less of a man for picking up this lavender princess story, only to find it filled to the brim with burping and farting jokes! It was actually hilarious. Something's come about with Lois Lowry in recent years. Books like NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER are no more. Instead, she seems to be sticking with the sly parodies like THE WILLOUGHBYS and THE BIRTHDAY BALL. Her incredible sense of storytelling is still present, no doubt. While I found some of THE WILLOUGHBYS to be funny, much of it utterly confused me. The same cannot be said for THE BIRTHDAY BALL. From the Queen's poor hearing, to the King's obsession with rare butterflies, to the Suitors' unique oddities (the Duke's unattractiveness, the Prince's vanity, the Conjoint Counts' immaturity), to the innocence of the peasant school children, there are laughs on nearly every page. And buried beneath the outlandish jokes, is a pretty worthwhile message!

In the opening pages, I didn't quite know what was in store for the reader regarding Princess Patricia Priscilla. The potential for a very unlikeable character is present. But it doesn't take long to realize there's more to this seemingly spoiled teenager than meets the eye. Sure she's ignorant and unknowingly rude at times, but she's also incredibly compassionate as well. The way she cares for some of the school children she meets and the way she befriends Tess, all both help illustrate the point Lowry is attempting to teach young readers, that princesses and peasants aren't that different after all. I think the 5th grade girls I teach would love this book. Even the boys who dig DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS humor would find something to laugh at and be entertained by!

I do have one slight concern with this title though. There are moments throughout the book where I worry that Lowry's sense of humor is a little too inappropriate and may even be viewed as offensive. Personally, I find nothing in here to be offended by and I think it's all done in tongue-in-cheek fashion. But I do fear that some parents would disagree with me. Especially considering the age range suggested is 9-12 year-olds. Jokes about "seduction" may go right over childrens' heads while jokes about "balls" and "farting" and "pee pee" are just flat out immature. The book definitely has the feel of a juvenile fiction piece (ages 9-12), but with lines like "very soon his saliva would be decorating her lovely pink neck", it's hard to envision this as anything but young adult.

In the hands of someone as skilled as Lois Lowry, I really wouldn't get too bent out of shape though. Sure, on the outside, this book has very little in common with her award winning novels NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER, but on the inside, beneath the belching and the farting and the dandruff, the message of THE BIRTHDAY BALL is just as poignant and just as relevant with today's readers. Princesses may be spoiled. Princesses may get what they want. But Princesses don't have to be shallow. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a teacher!

The plot may be familiar, but there are plenty of surprises in this wonderfully silly novel about a lovely young lady, beautiful inside and out, but who is bored bored bored as the pampered palace princess. She and her cat, Delicious, masquerade as ordinary villagers, where she attempts to blend in and attend school. The language and wordplay is sophisticated and funny, which makes this book a delight for adult readers as well as the target 9-12 age range.

Jules Feiffer's abstract and distinctive black and white line drawings suit the book's breezy style perfectly, particularly his illustrations of the unsuitable suitors Duke Desmond of Dyspepsia and Prince Percival of Pustula. It's rare that I feel that the illustrations are so in sync with the characterizations in the text.

I quite liked it and I highly recommend it for any age. It would also be an excellent choice for reading aloud to younger children. There's not much more I can say without giving away the fun parts. You'll just have to read it yourself!

This is NOT the Lois Lowry of The Giver!!! In this light hearted romp, Lowry gives a modern twist to the classic role reversal fairy tales. Though the lessons learned are just as deep as any presented in The Giver, she gets you there in a laugh-out-loud story of self discovery.

With her sixteen birthday quickly approaching the beautiful and bored Princess Patricia Priscilla is lamenting her lot in life. Faced with a big decision...on her sixteenth she must choose a husband...the Princess changes places with her Chamber Maid.

The Princess learns to appreciate what she has, loses her heart to her people, finds love and learns to think for herself.

Lowry paints her characters vividly and children will be enchanted and laugh aloud at the disgusting line up of suitors. The great line drawings of the amazing Jules Feiffer bring these crazy characters to life!

In the Lowry tradition, The Birthday Ball is aimed at the Middle Grade/Tween Reader but would be a howling good "read aloud" with your older Elementary School children. Don't let the pretty princess cover dictate gender - this one is an energetic party that both boys and girls will be happy to attend.

At an event at Books of Wonder in New York City, Lois Lowry said that in writing The Birthday Ball she was just looking to have a little fun. Fun she had indeed, but make no mistake, this not a syrupy work of triviality: it's no less than a confection spun with the care and craft of a master. Sweet and light it may be, but as a chocolate soufflé, rather than a bag of Hostess Ding Dongs.

The story concerns Princess Patricia Priscilla, a desperately bored little Royal of fifteen, whose birthday is approaching, and she couldn't care less. Unknown to her at the beginning of the book, on her sixteenth birthday the Princess must select from a line up of the most gleefully repellent suitor imaginable to wed and eventually produce an heir, as is law of the kingdom. In the tradition of many such stories that have preceded her, the Princess, aching for a little excitement, befriends a one of her chambermaids who tells her of the outside world. It isn't long before Patricia is swaddling herself in rags, smearing dirt on her face, and setting out into the village to mingle as one of the commoners. She finds enrichment and fulfillment as she's never known before by attending the local schoolhouse under the tutelage of a young and enthused (and handsome!) schoolmaster. But the ugly business of the Birthday Ball looms large, and she eventually must return to the palace to face her ghastly decision.

What makes this book so exquisiteis the way in which it shows off the, by now obvious, skill of Lois Lowry. There is nothing particularly groundbreaking about the plot line, and you can certainly see the ending coming from a kingdom far, far away, but in the hands of Lowry, the story is as fresh and individual as you could hope for. The joy is entirely in the execution, which is rendered impeccably: Priscilla's wordplay with her cat, Delicious ("Don't be so suspicious, Delicious!" and others), the hilarious descriptions of the repugnant suitors, the eccentricities of the stone-deaf Queen and butterfly-obsessed King, all manage to strike just the right genuinely charming note. In the hands of a less talented writer Princess Patricia Priscilla might have found herself in a saccharine, lifeless mess, instead of this clean and delightful little story which will likely inspire many a young girl towards individuality, and perhaps, speaking in rhyme.

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