Princess, Princess

by Penny Dale

A little princess can only be woken with a kiss - but from whom?


There’s a princess in a castle, sleeping, sleeping. . . . Who will wake the princess with a kiss?

Once upon a time, a little princess loved nothing more than playing happily with her friends - until an uninvited birthday guest spoiled the fun by casting a spiteful spell. But not for long! With soft, dreamlike pastels, Penny Dale offers a sweet fairy tale that celebrates the resilience of friendship and the magic of play.

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Penny Dale was born in Abbey Road near The Beatles' Studio, but grew up in Ottery St Mary. Her first school was so small that all the children were in one classroom, and even that wasn't full. She drew and made things all the time and her dad showed her how to use a hammer properly, something she's still proud of. She made plasticine models of everything she could think of. When Penny was very small, she found her parents' folios from a time when they both went to life drawing classes in London. She remembers being immensely impressed by their drawing, and even though she was very young, she knew she wanted to draw like that one day. At her junior school she was encouraged to draw pictures to complement written work, and this she loved, though this was not encouraged later on at secondary school, which she found disappointing. However, she still managed to illustrate work in some subjects, like Science (lively diagrams), Geography (coloured-in maps) and even made a lift-the-flap Norman Castle in History.

After secondary school, Penny took a Foundation Course at Bristol, then took a gap year to work with the Arts Workshop in Bath, making props and costumes, acting, and counting the takings on foreign tours. Later she did a Fine Art Degree at Exeter, where she met her husband Bryan. After college she began working for a time at the Northcott Theatre, designing and making costumes and props again, before she and her husband moved to Northumberland to work on renewable energy projects and graphic design. Their daughter Sarah was born in Hexham, and a friendship developed with an artist she met at childbirth classes, which led to shared daughter-minding, making time for painting, drawing and print making. A year later Penny moved down to South Wales, where Bryan took up a lecturing post in design. It was there that she started to write and illustrate children's books.


Today Penny is one of the UK's leading illustrators of children's books. Her books have met with great success: BET YOU CAN'T and ONCE THERE WERE GIANTS were included in the UK SATS booklist for many years. WAKE UP MR B! was commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal 1988. ROSIE'S BABIES (written by Martin Waddell) won the Best Book for Babies award and was also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1990. NIGHT NIGHT CUDDLY BEAR (also written by Martin Waddell) and TEN IN THE BED both won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award in 2001 and 2002 respectively. JAMIE AND ANGUS (written by Anne Fine) won the BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Award in 2003. Penny has sold over three million books worldwide and has been published in over twenty languages. Her most recent work includes PRINCESS, PRINCESS, as well as THE BOY ON THE BUS and JAMIE AND ANGUS TOGETHER.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are very pretty (too pretty for my tastes) but the writing is atrocious. It's better not to try to write in meter and rhyme if you haven't any ear for it.

The story itself is a slightly odd retelling of Sleeping Beauty with toddler-sized fairies and princess. There's no prince - the pint-sized princess is kissed by a remorseful naughty fairy.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about jealousy and repentance.

[Mosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Sleeping Beauty retailing with a surprise alternate ending. Each page is full of beautiful detailed fairy magic.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are very cute and very detailed. I love all the fairies, but it was a bit creepy how similar all the fairies looked. There is a lot of repetition of certain words and I feel like they are unnecessary. It ruined the reading experience for me. I would have enjoyed it if nothing was being repeated. Then there were some pages that had no repetition and then back to the repetition. It felt like the way the story was written was all over the place, but also in the same place? Not a fan the way it was written. Cool plot (very similar to Sleeping Beauty), but overall not a fan. I only give it two stars because of the illustrations.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stunning illustrations, but rambled on too much more more than a 3 star rating.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple, pleasing book to read to a princess loving child.

[C Phil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nauseatingly drippy. Even my four year old daughter found it silly. And pointed out why it took the bad faery so long to come back.

Avoid.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Little girls looking for princess books will mostly likely go crazy for this little offering. A twist on the sleeping beauty tale (spoiler), instead of a kiss from a prince, the sleeping princess awakens with a kiss from the little fairy who regrets the spell she put on her in the first place. One of those books that may have the grown-ups rolling their eyes, but the intended audience will be charmed.

[Destiny Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a simple yet sweet and charming children’s retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The art work is absolutely stunning and enchanting! I personally read this book when I was a child and reread it as an adult and it still has its charm! It also definitely gave me similar vibes to ‘The Secret Garden’ for some reason! Highly recommend this breathtaking piece of art for any child or fantasy book/art collector.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had the most beautiful pictures, but the story was not great. I didn't like how it resolved, it was like it gave the problem time, and then suddenly it was resolved with no discussion. Weird. Good for little girls who can't read to look at.

[Leyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the repetition and perhaps the lesson taught, although it was strange to find fairies behaving like humans and yet so close to real life. I think Jennifer found that strange as well. She enjoyed the illustrations, she likes me to stop so she can examine them.

[Suzi]

a really fun retelling of sleeping beauty

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet story about forgiveness. Penny Dale does such beautiful work - the story AND the illustrations.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute girly princess/fairy story with soft, romantic illustrations.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this version of sleeping beauty for the littles, very cute and sweet with lovely illustrations.

[Katheryn Christensen]

Picture book. I will use this to teach about behavior.

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read with my 5yo.