Customer Reviews

Princess and the Pea, The

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

 

 

Despite the Politically Correct gone amuck reviews of some reviewers, This is a children's classic and our daughter loves the story. It is part of our bedtime storybook rotation.

PLEASE NOTE! This review is for the version that is illustrated by Dorothee Duntze. Everyone knows this Hans Christian Andersen story about the bedraggled princess who shows up looking for shelter on a stormy night. She might be a good match for the prince who's been searching for a "real" princess so the queen mother runs a little test...the rest is the subject of fairy tales! This version is simply told and beautifully illustrated. The pictures, executed in soft pastel colors, have a quirky Art Deco feel to them that I thoroughly enjoyed. The gowns of all the ladies in the book are done in a collage style and are covered in intricate patterns and designs. Lovely...the real thing!

In the beautiful land of Upper-Crestalia King Adolph, Queen Frieda, & their dear son Prince Ralph live & the queen is quite content until her son one day bursts into her chamber & declares that he wishes to marry.

The queen does not like this idea at all so she hatches a plan to prevent her son marrying & she makes sure that the few princesses who do audition for Prince Ralph's wife all fail.

Mad with grief, Prince Ralph tears off in his expensive car down to Lower-Crestalia & when smoke starts billowing out of his hood, poor Ralph is stranded.

To his great surprise & relief, an auto-mechanic pulls up next to him & a dirty young woman in overalls carrying a tool box, jumps out. They get to talking, & the Prince is smitten! Her name is Opal, & she is the princess of Lower-Crestalia.

On the spot Prince Ralph proposes & when her prince charming confesses that his mother has idiotic tasks in store for her, Opal only becomes more determined.

Opal passes the tests with flying colors & that's when the queen insists there be a third test which is the one from which the title of this hilarious book is taken.

Will Princess Opal pass the final test? Will the queen's crafty plan succeed? Read this enchanting book & find out!

This is in reference to the version illustrated by D. Duntzee--some of the reviews here were a little confusing on that point. This version is the time-honored story by H. C. Andersen which I grew up hearing. The illustrations are really lovely and my two little girls just adore this book. If you have a library of classic children's stories, you should add this book to it--it's wonderful!

I bought this book for my 20 year old daughter who is truly a Princess Pea. She loved the book and I couldnt beat the price!

Prince Ralph, who lives with his parents King Adolph and Queen Frieda in Upper Crestalia, declares that he wishes to be married. Greedy Queen Frieda, who is consumed with her gem collection, sees yet another opportunity to corner the market on gems in the kingdom. Following the pattern of other versions of this Hans Christian Andersen tale, Queen Frieda devises tests for all of the young princesses in the land, who are, of course, unable to pass the unfairly constructed trials. Enter Princess Opaline, a car fixing, jump-rope jumping princess who must pass the pea-under-the-mattress test to win the hand of the Prince. No surprises here; however, the story does have an updated look and feel, and the winning princess once again proves to be a smart, independent woman.

I bought this book in the hopes that the text would be simple enough for my four-year-old. It was simple enough, but at great cost. Details I remember from the tellings I heard as a child were missing. There was nothing in the text that would help a child even remotely empathize with the characters. Ugh. I wanted my son to like or at least remember the story, but hearing this retelling was like eating cardboard. The illustrations weren't that great either, with nothing to attract a child's eye. Get a different version!

I bought this because I loved this book when I grew up, however it was very disappointing. The illustrations are crude and I found the story to be to simple. I wish I had found the version I read when I grew up.

The book arrived 2 days later than I was told it would. And that was a bit of a problem because the book was intended as a gift and arrived a day later than the birthday. The book itself was in perfect shape and my grand daughter has enjoyed it, even though she got it late.

I wanted to read this story to my first graders before we saw the play. Most books I found were too sophisticated. This one was perfect!