Harriet the Invincible

Starred review from May 11, 2015
This uproariously fun first entry in the Hamster Princess series begins when an uninvited evil fairy spoils Princess Harriet’s christening and curses the baby to a deathlike sleep at age 12. Sound familiar? Well, it is, but this future sleeping beauty is a rodent, and the curse involves not a spinning wheel but a hamster wheel. When Harriet Hamsterbone, no fan of standard princess stuff like deportment lessons and kissing princes, learns about the curse at age 10, she’s ecstatic—because she needs to be alive for the curse to work, she realizes that she’s essentially invincible. (Harriet celebrates by jumping off a tower, then “spent the next two years cliff-diving, dragon-slaying, and jousting on the professional circuit.”) When the curse magic gets twisted, Harriet demonstrates bravery, inventiveness, and a sword-sharp wit as she tries to save the kingdom. Shifting between prose passages and indigo-tinted cartoon sequences, Vernon (the Dragonbreath books) upends fairy-tale conventions and gender stereotypes left and right in a book with all the makings of a hit. Readers will be laughing themselves silly. Ages 8–12. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary.

Starred review from May 1, 2015
This new series from Dragonbreath's Vernon puts a wild spin on "Sleeping Beauty." A droll opening introduces Harriet Hamsterbone ("who, as her name indicated, was a hamster"), an adventurous princess chafing against deportment, the requirements of her role, and other limitations imposed by her parents. When they reveal the source of their overprotectiveness (the "Sleeping Beauty" curse, with a hamster wheel on her 12th birthday substituting for the spinning wheel), Harriet takes a seemingly counterintuitive stance: since the curse requires her to be alive on her fateful birthday, until then she must be invincible. She gallivants around as an unstoppable hero before returning home for her birthday-to discover that her mother has prepared for the curse by picking a wretched, male-chauvinist prince to kiss and wake her once the curse sets in. Before it can, the evil fairy shows up to gloat, and a hilarious sequence leads to the backfiring of the curse, leaving Harriet the castle's only hamster still awake. Now she must find a prince willing to kiss every last sleeping creature in the castle. Vernon deploys the same winning elements found in her Dragonbreath books, a mix of boldly drawn, two-tone cartoons, occasional speech bubbles, and a boisterously humorous text. Harriet is her own hamster, but she takes her place proudly alongside both Danny Dragonbreath and Babymouse. Creatively fresh and feminist, with laughs on every single page. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 8-12)

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Starred review from May 1, 2015

Gr 3-5-From the creator of the "Dragonbreath" series (Dial) comes a new fairy tale heroine in the form of a hamster. Princess Harriet Hamsterbone is not like ordinary princesses who are known for trailing around the palace looking ethereal and sighing a lot. She is, however, brave and intelligent and excels in other hamster princess skills, like checkers and fractions. Harriet is also invincible, due in part to a curse put upon her at birth by the evil wicked fairy god mouse, Ratshade. The curse dooms Princess Harriet to fall into a Sleeping Beauty-like slumber at the age of 12 but leaves her unable to die until then. Rather than worry about the inevitable, Princess Harriet lives life without fear-cliff-diving and Ogre-cat fighting, all with her trusty quail friend Mumfrey at her side. When the curse backfires, leaving all in the Kingdom in a deep slumber except Harriet and Mumfrey, it is up to the fierce little hamster to find a willing prince able to help her break the curse and save the kingdom. The artwork is large and in graphic novel-style, with sparse colors, similar to the "Dragonbreath" illustrations. Move over, Babymouse, there's a new rodent in town! VERDICT Vernon has created a spunky heroine readers will cheer for and who will leave them eagerly searching for the happily ever after in the next installment.-Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

snicker9 - Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible is about a hamster princess. Just like Aurora, otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty, when she was a baby an evil fairy Ratshade has cursed Harriet Hamsterbone. Except Harriet’s curse is that at age 12 she will prick her finger on a hamster wheel and fall into a deep sleep. Luckily the fairy god-mice are present, and give their three gifts: that Harriet will not have to eat or drink while she is sleeping, that brambles will grow around the castle to protect the sleeping princess(something that Harriet’s father the King is quite worried about), and that if a prince should kiss her she would wake up. Unlike most princess’s who would dread the curse, Harriet is thrilled when she learns of it. Because that means that until she is 12 years old she is invincible, and can do all the high-risk things she has dreamed about. No more princess lessons for her. So, until she is 12 years old Harriet lives a life of adventure, protecting the land, and becomes known as Crazy Princess Harriet. But when the curse finally arrives things go a little...unexpected. Harriet tricks Ratshade into touching the cursed hamster wheel, and she goes into a deep sleep. But to Harriet’s alarm everyone else in the castle falls asleep as well. So Harriet sets off on another adventure (although this one she must be much more careful as she can now be killed), with her trusty riding quail Mumfrey to find a way to save her kingdom. Hamster Princess was an unique re-telling of Sleeping Beauty. I liked that the author mixed elements from the original fairytale with her own twists. The illustrations in this book sometimes seemed to interrupt the flow of the story, especially when you had to look for dialogue, but other than that they were usually very humorous. I recommend this book to elementary girls. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
Grades 3-6 *Starred Review* Princesses don't cliff-dive. They don't joust, they don't slay monsters, and they don't rescue anyone. But Princess Harriet Hamsterbone (yes, she's a hamster) is a princess, and, If I do it, she says, it's got to be something princesses do! Who makes these rules?! Not content to wait around to prick herself on a hamster wheel on her twelfth birthdayshe was cursed at birth, Sleeping Beauty styleHarriet makes the curse work for her. Curses, she reasons, are specific, and this one will keep her alive until she's 12, making her all but invincible for the time being. And so off she goes, riding her faithful quail and ignoring her parents' dry commentary, saving princesses from dragons (and dragons from princesses), and maybe finding the skills to save herself in the process. And, oh yeah, she'll do anything to avoid having to kiss some stuck-up prince. The spunky, slightly bonkers Harriet is a delightful heroine who turns this fairy tale on its head, and the book is peppered with clever two-color cartoon illustrations that will attract even the more reluctant readers. It's a joy to read, and we can only hope that Harrietlong may she reignwill return in later installments.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)