From School Library Journal
Grade 3-4-- Florizella is a princess in a contemporary country, where magic exists, but everyday life is recognizably like readers' own. She likes to spend her days outside, riding her horse around the forest, and finding adventures with her best friend, Prince Bennett. She releases some orphan wolf cubs she has adopted into the forest, but the biggest and friendliest of them ends up living in the castle with Florizella and her family. This modern tale with traditional fairy tale elements has a spirited heroine and lots of black-and-white drawings. Except for occasional cuteness, Gregory's telling is readable and appealing. It's a nice step up for fans of Jane Yolen's Sleeping Ugly (Coward, 1981), even without the magic spells. --JoAnn Rees, Sunnyvale Public Library, CA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
From a British author of adult historical romances, a refreshingly offbeat kid-and-animal adventure dressed up as a feminist fairy tale: Princess Florizella doesn't mind not being beautiful, and has no intention of marrying handsome Prince Bennett next door, but they're good friends. When she secretly adopts four orphaned wolf cubs, the royal cook misses quantities of venison and steak-and-kidney pie and raises the alarm. Once the cubs are big enough to hunt, Florizella is ordered to return them to the forest, but when one--Samson--keeps coming back to howl under her window at night, she and Bennett dye his coat and pass him off as an Alsatian. By the time this ruse is discovered, Samson has earned a place at court by rescuing Florizella from a panther, and all live happily thereafter. An excellent read-aloud--warm, lighthearted, and spiced with humor and suspense; adults will enjoy the bits of anti-monarchist satire and sendups of nursery tales (this queen eats her bread and honey in the office). Lots of b&w drawings capture the high spots. (Fiction. 7-10) --
Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
