The Princess and The Pea
 Adapted & Illustrated by: Alain Vaës
 (Associate Student Reviewer - Karrie G.)
 2001 Little, Brown & Company
  ISBN: 0316896330

This age-old delightful tale is given a new twist that makes for amusing reading. Prince Ralph wishes to get married. His stingy mother Queen Frieda, does not want to have to pay for a royal wedding nor, for that matter, give up a diamond from her precious jewel collection for his engagement ring. Queen Frieda decides that until her son gets married, she will allow no one else in the kingdom to marry.

Associate Student Reviewer Karrie writes:

In the beautiful land of Upper-Crestalia King Adolph, Queen Frieda, & their dear son Prince Ralph happily live & the queen is quite content until her son one day bursts into her chamber & declares, much to his mother's dismay, that he wishes to marry. The queen does not like this idea at all!

A royal wedding would cost painfully much, & even worse: what if Prince Ralph needed a diamond from her prized jewel collection? To solve this problem, the queen hatches a plan: she will agree to her son marrying, but until he finds a wife, no one else in the kingdom can marry. This would leave thousands of shops selling jewels for a penny a piece, having no gentlemen to buy them for engagement rings... & if she just makes sure that the few princesses who do audition for Prince Ralph's wife all fail, there would be no wedding at all.

The three princesses chosen do indeed fail the queen's ridiculous tasks. Mad with grief for the wife he will never have, Prince Ralph tears off in his expensive car down to Lower-Crestalia. Unfortunately, smoke starts billowing out of his hood, & on top of everything else, poor Ralph is stranded.

To his great surprise & relief, an auto-mechanic with a 24-hour emergency service pulls up next to him & a dirty young woman in overalls carrying a tool box, jumps out. They get to talking, & the Prince, finding her very sweet & beautiful, even covered in oil splotches, is smitten! Her name is Opal, & she is the princess of Lower-Crestalia. She is only working as an auto-mechanic until she comes of age.

On the spot Prince Ralph proposes & although Opal finds this a little soon she agrees, certain he is the man of her dreams.

After Prince Ralph confesses that his mother has idiotic tasks in store for her, she only becomes more determined. The queen reluctantly allows Opal to take the tests, but after Opal passes them, the queen insists there be a third.

The third test is the one from which the title of this hilarious book is taken. Remember that: “A royal princess must be truly sensitive. This pea should prevent any real princess from getting a decent night's sleep. If she sleeps well, then she's a fraud!”

Will Opal pass the test? Will the queen's crafty plan succeed? Read this enchanting book & find out!

Other books by Alain Vaës: “Puss in Boots” and Reynard The Fox. Alain Vaës lives in new York with his wife and daughter. Apart from his popular children’s books, Mr. Vaës is also known for the many sets & costumes he's created for The New York City Ballet & other dance companies throughout the world.

(11/25/01)
Karrie G.
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Student Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
Karrie G. lives in The Netherlands. She is 15 years old, attends a Dutch Language School & is originally from Wisconsin, USA

Her favorite colors are: light blue, sea green, lavender & black!
Favorite sports are: swimming & soccer.
Favorite school subjects are: languages & creative writing class.
Favorite things to do are: playing the piano, reading, writing short stories & poetry, drawing & going to the movie theater.
The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Most people call the Netherlands Holland & it is about the size of Connecticut, but with a lot more people, sixteen million. You may think of tulips, chocolate, windmills & wooden shoes when you think of Holland. Although there are still lots of tulips & chocolate, & there are still some windmills, you wouldn't see many people wearing clogs today.