My Review of A Most Reluctant Princess by Jean M Cogdell for #RBRT

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This  book was given to me,  as a member of #RBRT,  by the author in return for a fair review.

I gave A Most Reluctant Princess 4* out of 5*

The Blurb:

How can she be a princess if her daddy’s not a king? What will she be when she grows up? Written in simple rhyme, this story is filled with sweet illustrations of a “little princess” with a big imagination and a lot of questions. Little girls who love playing dress up will enjoy hearing how one “little princess” discovers a world of possibilities.

 My review:

I read this book with my six year old granddaughter who  is sitting with me to make sure I write what she says (her words.)

 Okay, here goes. Seren enjoyed this book very much. She likes the pictures (illustrations) and  she loves the story. She likes the idea that she can be anything she wants to be when she is bigger. (which is what her mummy says to her) . And she runs to the door when Daddy (or Mummy, she adds) comes home from work.

My thoughts (she’s gone now, satisfied I’ve written the right words):

I too loved the illustrations,(which are excellent and tell a story in themselves) and I liked the premise of this picture story book, though, in this format,  obviously written for an American readership. (would be an idea to alter a few words for a UK readership and publish in the UK? – just a thought)

 Picture story books are very close to poetry in many ways. One of the most important is that they  both are intended to be read aloud. So fluency is essential. If the format is meant to be regular in  rhythm, then each line must have the same amount of syllables. If not then the tendency is to stumble over the lines, which spoils the flow. In A Most Reluctant Princess, not every verse/ page works. Most do, but one or two don’t   (I’m thinking of the second  “bakery” page here in particular – and the second “Doctor” page)

 And, occasionally the rhyming isn’t quite there.

Turning the pages to see what happens next seems to be important for children in picture story books. So , often there are connecting words ” And/But /So.”Or often those three little dots – the ellipses. Not being any in  A Most Reluctant Princess,I  felt the story to be  a little disjointed.

But these  last few paragraphs are obviously an  adult point of view.   And, to be fair, I should say I teach creative writing and picture story books are an included genre.

So, as a last word, I  will leave it to the expert, who has just bounced back into the room. ‘ A Most Reluctant Princess is a lovely story with lovely pictures. And will you make me a crown, Nanna?’

Buying links:

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/29v9Nbb

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/29v9xcj

 

25 thoughts on “My Review of A Most Reluctant Princess by Jean M Cogdell for #RBRT”

  4. Judith, your granddaughter sounds adorable. Please thank her for helping you with this review. Writing a second book with the UK audience in mind is something I might tackle in the future. Thanks for the idea. Now to get a few of my UK friends to help. 😉

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    • She is, Jean. But than I am biased! 🙂 She knows just what she likes and what she doesn’t like. And she loved your book. I’ll pass your thanks on; she’ll be thrilled that an author sent her thanks. She doesn’t of course, consider me an author because my books don’t have pictures … and are really quite boring!! For a UK audience you’d only need to change the Mommy to Mummy and the President to Prime Minister? And now we’ll have a female Prime Minister – which impresses Seren (which means ‘star’ in Welsh – quite apt, I think) And givers her great hope for her future career. looking forward to your next book. Jx

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      • I think you should, Jean. And you’ll be in London? So exciting; I love London. Always glad to get home to the peace and quiet of Pembrokeshire Wales, though. Shame you won’t be here in September (or will you?) You could come to our Tenby Book Fair. Jx

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