The Princess and the Pea

August 3, 1992
Even in the tropics, it appears, love conquers all: Stevenson cleverly sets her jaunty retelling on a balmy South Sea isle. From that idyllic spot a peripatetic prince journeys quite literally to the ends of the earth in his quest for a true princess--readers see him sitting astride a camel under the blazing desert sun, beckoning to monkeys in the jungle and contemplating an arctic yak. That he and all the prospective princesses (as well as the genuine article that eventually, of course, turns up) are rabbits further heightens the silliness and the fun. Floppy-earred, pudgy and arrayed in exotic costumes befitting their locales, this troupe is beguiling indeed. Stevenson's ( Christmas Eve ; Jessica the Blue Streak ) unaffected prose, expressively cartoony style and fresh pastels make this an accessible and entertaining version of Andersen's classic. Ages 5-8.

December 1, 1987
Long before there were lie detectors, there was the great pea test: the real princess's genteel character is not numbed by 20 mattresses and 20 eiderdown quilts. She isn't lying when she says she felt "something so hard that I'm black and blue all over.'' The pea becomes a museum piece, and at the end of this story the princess happily marries her prince, and their offspring go picking in a pea patch. Tharlet's narrative scenes are portrayed from an almost aerial perspective. Readers look down at castles, their majestic interiors and the people that inhabit them from a vantage point that reveals the artist's acute awareness of size and dimension as language for humor. All royal folk look alike, with their stiff upper lips, twisted noses and looks of perpetual surprise. Ages 4-8.