by Margaret Atwood
|
by Anthony Browne
|
by Chris Van Allsburg
|
by Ruth Culham
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Amazon.ca
Margaret Atwood gives the Beauty and the Beast story a humorous gender twist in her fourth book for children, the alliterative picture book Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut. Like the selfish beast-prince of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Princess Prunella is "proud, prissy and pretty." She never picks up her playthings, plumps her pillows, or puts away pens, pencils, and puzzles. Moreover, she is always stepping on the tails of the palace cats or tipping her mother's "powerful perfume all over the Persian carpet" due to her habit of "peering at her dimples in a pocket mirror" all day long.
When a "white-haired, wrinkly-wristed Wise Woman" comes to the door to beg for food, Princess Prunella characteristically pushes her off the palace porch. The Wise Woman, however, casts a spell on the self-absorbed princess, causing a hideous purple peanut to sprout on the end of her perfect nose. There is only one way to break the spell. Prunella must perform three good deeds. But what's a princess to do when she doesn't even know what a good deed is?
Atwood's light comic touch and artful use of alliteration help to soften the preachiness of this moral fable about a girl who must become ugly to learn the folly of vanity. The proliferation of p-words contributes a wonderfully manic energy to the text. And Maryann Kovalski's warm, funny watercolours, setting Atwood's story in the pampered 18th century, simply add to the fun. (Ages 4 to 8) --Lisa Alward
From Publishers Weekly
Canadian literary icon Atwood takes a break from serious fiction and cuts loose with this deliciously silly romp. Preoccupied with her own prettiness, Prunella, a positive pill of a princess, passes her time peering into a pocket mirror to see her perfect dimples; planning nuptials with a prince who has piles of pin money; and producing pandemonium for her pained parents, pets and the parlormaids paid to pick up after her. She gets her comeuppance when she provokes a "wrinkly-wristed" wise woman, who places on the princess's proboscis a purple peanut that won't go away until she performs three good deeds. All's well that ends well, however, and prudence wins out over pride. The fun is infectious, and greatly amplified by Kovalski's (Pizza for Breakfast) droll illustrations. It's also a particularly pleasing read-aloud, as Atwood's outrageous alliteration ("for supper she fed Prunella some parsley and paprika soup, a pile of potted pigeon and pickerel pancakes, and some pepper and porridge preserve, on a pretty plate patterned with pendulous poppies") proves irresistible. Perfectly peachy. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||
Most helpful customer reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
