The Twin Princes

April 30, 2007
Arnold (Hi! Fly Guy) concocts a good-twin/bad-twin rivalry in this tale of rooster princes and a dispute over the royal throne. In the setup, a hen-nursemaid recalls the story to two yellow chicks, promising a riddle before its resolution. As the hen tells it, King Chanticleer is uncertain about which of his twin sons is his rightful heir. “Their mother, the queen, had died while birthing Henry and Fowler. In the confusion and grief after her death, the poor midwife lost track of which prince was born first.” Now Henry (always in a purple cape, on a white steed) and Fowler (who wears orange and rides a palomino) have come of age, though they could not have developed more differently. In the cockerels’ horse races, Fowler callously knocks down peasants in his way, yanks Henry’s cloak and sickens his brother’s horse—with henbane, of course. In a parade, friendly Henry waves his wing as sneering Fowler hoists a sword. Thus readers fear the worst when the king, injured in a worm-hunting accident, proposes a horse race to settle the inheritance matter, though he adds a last-minute twist that becomes the source of the riddle. Arnold, who amusingly imagines the castle as a combination of fortress and big red barn, plays on the chicken theme while creating real suspense. Using his signature warm watercolor palette and fizzy colored-pencil squiggles, he draws hyperbolic characters with spherical eyes, oversize yellow beaks, red combs and royal garb. In all, Arnold crafts a satisfying fairy-tale puzzle that should invite rereading for both comedy and clues. Ages 4-up.

March 1, 2007
K-Gr 2-Arnold characterizes the good and bad twin princes and their like-minded horses in this featherbrained tale in which Old King Chanticleer decides that his successor will be determined by a horse race and a riddle. Verbal puns"You crossed the road to help me" and "Last one back is a rotten egg"gain significance when the cast is made up of players complete with waddles and beaks. Listeners are encouraged to solve the riddle and prompted with visual clues and verbal urging: "Last chance]." Arnold's stylized art with bold outlines, colored-pencil curlicues, and watercolor washes is most recognizable for the expressive googly eyessomething that might be duplicated with golf balls in 3-D. The book is fun, but the nuances might be lost on a young audience."Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2007
With his signature verve, the author-illustrator of the 2006 Theodor Suess Geisel Honor Book " Hi! Fly Guy "(2005), and many others, folds a satisfying brainteaser into an original folktale starring a slaphappy cast of bug-eyed chickens. Arnold was inspired by a riddle he learned from his father: if the winning rider in a race is the one whose horse is " last "rather than " first, "won't the race inevitably come to an impasse? The context is a real race between twin princes--one a good egg, the other rotten to the yolk--who are vying to inherit their father's kingdom. Newcomers to the riddle probably will not anticipate the answer, as they are encouraged to do by the text, but it doesn't really matter. The problem and its solution are clearly presented, and there are plenty of clever touches to engage kids and grown-ups alike--from a text stuffed with poultry puns ("Don't you know where you stand in the pecking order?") to small, smart furtherings of the chicken theme in the cheerful watercolor-and-colored-pencil artwork; at one point, the royal hunt's quarry is depicted as a worm rather than the more traditional fox. This book will have everyone chuckling at the starting gate--and thinking all the way to the finish line.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)