The Daring Prince Dashing

September 15, 2015
A daredevil prince meets his perfect Cinderella, and they begin a "most adventurous friendship." Bathing in the crocodile-filled moat and toasting marshmallows by dragon's breath are par for the course for Prince Dashing. At the royal ice cream social, he meets a blonde who can keep up with his crazy antics-playing "Fur Elise" with her toes while doing a backbend while the prince roller-blades across the top of the piano. But at the stroke of bedtime, she is gone, leaving behind only her pogo stick, which the prince calls a "stick-thingy." The girl who can make the right sound with the stick-ZING-BOING!-will be the honored guest at the prince's birthday party. But of course, the prince can't do things the easy way; he will search for "Stickerella" blindfolded, which makes for lots of humorous mishaps and near misses. West's brightly colored vignette and double-page-spread illustrations are full of funny details, especially the scenes in the zoo. Nicely, this fairy-tale heroine isn't in need of saving-there's no stepmother and no forced labor, though she does clean her own home. For those kids who find nasty sisters, cleaning, and losing a shoe to be too tame, this is a daredevil alternative. (Fractured fairy tale. 4-7)

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December 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-A daring prince meets his match and then loses her in this Cinderella-esque story of a boy, a girl, and a pogo stick. Prince Dashing is an adventurous lad who doesn't think twice about bathing with crocodiles, toasting s'mores by way of dragon's breath, or catapulting himself from the castle onto his faithful steed. A chance encounter with a mysterious girl on a pogo stick leaves the prince feeling like he's met his match. She rushes out of the party at bedtime, leaving behind her pogo stick, which is picked up by the prince and inspires him to go on a quest to find her. The prince insists on going blindfolded in order to locate this mysterious girl by the sound the pogo stick makes, but he winds up in a zoo where various animals play with the "stick-thingy." The illustrations have an animated cartoon quality that works well to show off the prince and the girl's ridiculous antics, and the text is full of clever phrases that reframe the classic fairy tale to feature two kids being kids and pulling off outlandish stunts. VERDICT With just the right amounts of silliness and playfulness, this is an easy story for a wide range of readers to enjoy over and over.-Matthew C. Winner, Ducketts Lane Elementary School, Elkridge, MD

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