Princesses don't run. Princesses don't wear black. Princesses definitely don't fight monsters. Or do they? As the mother of girls who love princesses and superheroes, I loved reading this book with my girls. There has been a little bit of effort in recent years to include female superheroes (though they're still by far the minority), but I appreciated that in this book, you don't have to choose. You can be a princess and a superhero.
This book was written by wife/husband team Shannon Hale and Dean Hale. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite YA authors. And it's illustrated by LeUyen Pham. I rarely recognize an illustrator's work, but I'm beginning to recognize her and have another favorite picture book that she illustrated that I'll highlight soon.
This book is told in short chapters with large type so it would make a good first chapter book. With my early reader, I read some pages and she read some pages. She's reading pretty good, but she gets overwhelmed quickly, so I take the pages with lots of type and give her the ones with more pictures and fewer words. It's a fun, quick read. Give it a try with your girls. Or with your boys--there may be a goat boy who takes inspiration from the Princess in Black that they can cheer for if they shy away from princess stuff.
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The Princess in Black
By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Year: 2014
Info: color illustrations
Ages: Picture Books, Early Readers, First Chapter Books
Themes: princesses, superheroes, monsters
Source: our public library
I want to try this book. It looks great, thank you!
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