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The Hinky-Pink: An Old Tale
A happy Hinky-Pink is a fine thing. An unhappy Hinky-Pink pinches!
That is what happens to Anabel, a young seamstress in Old Italy who has only days to finish her dream: sewing a gown for the princess to wear at the Butterfly Ball.
Thanks -- or no thanks -- to the Hinky-Pink Anabel is woozy for want of sleep. Her lace looks like cheesecloth; her hems, like saddle cinches. Night after night, the Hinky-Pink keeps wrestling her bedclothes to the floor -- and pinching. What is its problem? And how is Anabel to help?
A grand old favorite of storytellers is here given sprightly new life.
That is what happens to Anabel, a young seamstress in Old Italy who has only days to finish her dream: sewing a gown for the princess to wear at the Butterfly Ball.
Thanks -- or no thanks -- to the Hinky-Pink Anabel is woozy for want of sleep. Her lace looks like cheesecloth; her hems, like saddle cinches. Night after night, the Hinky-Pink keeps wrestling her bedclothes to the floor -- and pinching. What is its problem? And how is Anabel to help?
A grand old favorite of storytellers is here given sprightly new life.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2008
5 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Megan McDonald
294 books736 followers"Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody," says Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, the Stink series, and THE SISTERS CLUB. "I'm certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that."
For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn't always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as "Little Johnny the Storyteller." Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. "I'm told I began to stutter," she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start "writing things down."
Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice. "Judy has taken on a life of her own," the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald's strongest incentives to keep writing, along with "too many ideas and a little chocolate." And now -- by popular demand -- Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink's special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, "Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy's little brother, chanted, 'Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!' as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own."
More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor -- and squabbles -- of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.
Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.
For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn't always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as "Little Johnny the Storyteller." Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. "I'm told I began to stutter," she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start "writing things down."
Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice. "Judy has taken on a life of her own," the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald's strongest incentives to keep writing, along with "too many ideas and a little chocolate." And now -- by popular demand -- Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink's special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, "Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy's little brother, chanted, 'Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!' as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own."
More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor -- and squabbles -- of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.
Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
July 1, 2009
I'm giving this three stars because probably I would have liked it as a kid, though I found it just a tad boring now... Even so, I was curious how she would finally find a bed suitable for the Hinky-Pink (and would we ever actually SEE the Hinky-Pink???)
December 23, 2008
A good original fairy tale is a hard creature to conjure. To come up with a story of appropriate length, charm, and originality often requires that its author be ready to do a little research and a little digging in ye olde history files. Megan McDonald is a former children's librarian and storyteller, though you probably know her better for her Judy Moody stories than anything else. But as a storyteller, she has acquired a fine ear for a tellable tale. Of course the appeal of The Hinky Pink is that it isn't wholly reliant on the fact that few of us have heard this story of a mischievous little magical critter. No, between McDonald's brisk and catchy telling and Brian Floca's evocative settings and funny images, Hinky Pink is what they call in the business a charmer. An all new retelling of a story that is bound to be beloved, always assuming that enough people go out and find it.
Anabel is just a simple seamstress living out her days in her tiny room in Old Italy. She longs to someday make gowns and sew delicate fabrics fit for a princess. Not that she's ever seen one before, but she's sure they're all delicate and lovely. Anabel unexpectedly has her wish granted when the resident princess, one Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola, ruins her best gown with a well-placed raspberry tart. She tells the seamstress that she has only one week to produce the mother of all gowns. One, "the color of a ruby snowbird's wing. With sequins that glitter like sparkleberries and stitches as lacey as snowflakes." Fair enough. Yet the room in which Anabel is to stay while she creates this marvel is haunted by a sprite called a hinky pink. Every night when she goes to fall asleep the hinky pink pinches her and throws her covers to the four corners of the room. Local nursemaid Mag tells Anabel that the creature will only be appeased if the girl makes it its own little bed. Yet making the perfect bed is by no means easy, and as the night of the ball grows closer Anabel will have to find a way to appease not only a hudgin, as Mag calls it, but a cranky princess as well. McDonald has culled her tale from Margery Bailey's The Bed Just So in Whistle for Good Fortune and from Jean B. Hardendorff's retelling.
There are certain expectations a small child has when they are read a fairy tale. These expectations can be lined up neatly in a row as follows:
If there is a poor girl at the beginning . .she will be rich by the end.
If she does not have a husband . . . . . . she will have one by the end.
If she meets a princess who is not saintly . . . that princess will be punished by the end.
If she is a seamstress . . . . . . .she will BE the princess by the end.
See? Simple rules but we've seen them followed so meticulously over the years that I was wholly unprepared for McDonald's own story. There's a certain distinctly American expectation that if you start a story out as a poor seamstress, even if you enjoy your work you are going to be introduced to greater grander things by the story's close and you'll never return to your life of sewing ever again. McDonald's heroine, however, dreams only of someday getting to produce a dress that is fit for a princess. "A dress that would dance the tarantella." And she gets her wish in the end, though it is almost as if she accomplishes two wishes at once. You see, at the start of the book Anabel dreams of what a real princess would look like. When she sees her first live one the effect is disheartening. However, once Anabel's dress is placed on the princess, it transforms the woman into someone more princess-like than could have been expected (or hoped for). Anabel sees the essence royalty that has been created by her own hands. Maybe that's why the last image in the book is of Anabel dancing with Mag outside of the ballroom while the princess is in the out-of-focus background. If this book is about anything, it's about the triumph of working class people to keep their jobs in spite of awful odds and awfuller employers.
Another oddity associated with this story is the hinky pink itself. Many of us have heard of stories like this where mischievous spirits must be appeased before they'll grant a wish or a boon. Yet the hinky pink isn't like that. If you're expecting it to reward Anabel for figuring out what it wants, you are bound to be let down. The hinky pink grants the girl only what she would have had in the first place; sleep. The crux of the story isn't how Anabel will use the hinky pink for her own devices, but rather how she'll outwit this very personal problem that has been haunting her. Heck, if you even wanted to call this story a great big metaphor, I wouldn't stop you. Seems about right to me.
And all the while McDonald's writing sets the story's tone. Little sentences are worked in that you might not spot on a first or second reading, but that become very clear and distinct the more you look at the book. When Anabel is certain that she will fail because she is too tired to work properly Mag bucks her up with a sturdy, "walk with your slippers until you find your shoes." Or, "The barking of dogs does not reach heaven." Of course, we never do discover how it is that Mag knows that Anabel is a magnificent tailor, one to be believed in, even to the very last minute. But this concern is brief and fleeting and though I've little doubt that some enterprising young reader will wonder as well, it's not so much of a flaw as it is a narrative gap.
Sometimes an author will set a book in a very distinctive location, like Spain or England, and the accompanying illustrator will work up a quick and dirty sense of the location. England? Great, just slap some furry hats on guys in red coats and voila! Instant British Isles. Brian Floca is not one of these artists. To call him meticulous is to hint at a kind of anal-retentive nature in this work, but I'm having a hard time describing his pictures in this book in any other way. In her Author's Note, McDonald says that she has, "restored the tale to its original setting (Firenze, Old Italy)". Under Floca's hand, that sentence takes on greater weight. From its windowside glances to its multiple aerial views, Floca gets deep into the heard of Firenze. He writes in his Illustrator's Note that while "The Hinky-Pink is no substitute for a reputable art history survey," many of the buildings seen here are particular to Florence. And as Mr. Floca says, "A problem with Florence is that it looks good from every angle. This makes decisions difficult." One can only speculate as to what was rejected, particularly since the final product seems so self-evident and perfectly done.
The colors of the book are interesting too. Set in a kind of 1800s period, the book is awash in pinks, creams, golds, and light cloud-ridden blues. But the pinks and roses are the most significant here. From the shock of hair lighting up the hinky pink's head to the princess's fairytale dress, pink is the name of the game (which may be inspired, in some small part, by the name of the sprite itself). That doesn't mean that Floca doesn't stretch his muscles in other areas as well. I loved the dull, almost dirty colors of Anabel's tiny room where she hems for a living. Or the late afternoon gold that stretches from the Great Castle of Firenze to the bottom of the page. Or, best of all, the explosion of riotous color emanating from the teeny tiny hudgin when at last it finds its own perfect bed.
The speech balloons are an interesting touch for a book containing such classical styles and designs. They are most often exclamations like "Aargh!", "Alas", "At last," and "Holy macaroni". Many of them are Italian in nature, like "Santo cielo!" and "Che bella!" We can't know whose decision it was to create such little cries either. Maybe McDonald wrote them in intending that they be part of the narrative and Floca plucked them out. Or maybe he wrote them on his own and inserted them into the text. Or maybe they were always meant to be balloons. It's hard to say. Yet they offer a nice complement to the sheer amount of action Floca packs into this book. I mean, when that hinky pink first pinches Anabel and pulls off her covers, it's not done gently or lightly but in such a way that she is tossed head over heels backwards, feet in the air. And when she runs about trying to find the hobbledy-gob the panels are broken up with ornate columns, like a comic rife with classical architecture. So between the speech balloons on the one hand and the running, diving, tossing, and turning on the other, this is a pretty lively concoction.
Let's tick them off on our fingers shall we. You have a fun fairytale of an entirely new nature - tick. You have unexpected twists and turns in what at first appears to be an already familiar plot - tick. You have beautiful architecture and an eye pleasing shades and hues - tick. And on top of all that you have enough action and movement to keep you engaged from start to finish - tick tick tick. The pairing of McDonald and Floca wouldn't have occurred to me but then I'm not an editor, am I? That's why they get paid the big bucks, y'know. So if your fairytale sections are running a bit low and you need something wholly new to please your older storytime crew, The Hinky Pink will fit the bill. One-of-a-kind in the best possible way.
Ages 4-8.
Anabel is just a simple seamstress living out her days in her tiny room in Old Italy. She longs to someday make gowns and sew delicate fabrics fit for a princess. Not that she's ever seen one before, but she's sure they're all delicate and lovely. Anabel unexpectedly has her wish granted when the resident princess, one Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola, ruins her best gown with a well-placed raspberry tart. She tells the seamstress that she has only one week to produce the mother of all gowns. One, "the color of a ruby snowbird's wing. With sequins that glitter like sparkleberries and stitches as lacey as snowflakes." Fair enough. Yet the room in which Anabel is to stay while she creates this marvel is haunted by a sprite called a hinky pink. Every night when she goes to fall asleep the hinky pink pinches her and throws her covers to the four corners of the room. Local nursemaid Mag tells Anabel that the creature will only be appeased if the girl makes it its own little bed. Yet making the perfect bed is by no means easy, and as the night of the ball grows closer Anabel will have to find a way to appease not only a hudgin, as Mag calls it, but a cranky princess as well. McDonald has culled her tale from Margery Bailey's The Bed Just So in Whistle for Good Fortune and from Jean B. Hardendorff's retelling.
There are certain expectations a small child has when they are read a fairy tale. These expectations can be lined up neatly in a row as follows:
If there is a poor girl at the beginning . .she will be rich by the end.
If she does not have a husband . . . . . . she will have one by the end.
If she meets a princess who is not saintly . . . that princess will be punished by the end.
If she is a seamstress . . . . . . .she will BE the princess by the end.
See? Simple rules but we've seen them followed so meticulously over the years that I was wholly unprepared for McDonald's own story. There's a certain distinctly American expectation that if you start a story out as a poor seamstress, even if you enjoy your work you are going to be introduced to greater grander things by the story's close and you'll never return to your life of sewing ever again. McDonald's heroine, however, dreams only of someday getting to produce a dress that is fit for a princess. "A dress that would dance the tarantella." And she gets her wish in the end, though it is almost as if she accomplishes two wishes at once. You see, at the start of the book Anabel dreams of what a real princess would look like. When she sees her first live one the effect is disheartening. However, once Anabel's dress is placed on the princess, it transforms the woman into someone more princess-like than could have been expected (or hoped for). Anabel sees the essence royalty that has been created by her own hands. Maybe that's why the last image in the book is of Anabel dancing with Mag outside of the ballroom while the princess is in the out-of-focus background. If this book is about anything, it's about the triumph of working class people to keep their jobs in spite of awful odds and awfuller employers.
Another oddity associated with this story is the hinky pink itself. Many of us have heard of stories like this where mischievous spirits must be appeased before they'll grant a wish or a boon. Yet the hinky pink isn't like that. If you're expecting it to reward Anabel for figuring out what it wants, you are bound to be let down. The hinky pink grants the girl only what she would have had in the first place; sleep. The crux of the story isn't how Anabel will use the hinky pink for her own devices, but rather how she'll outwit this very personal problem that has been haunting her. Heck, if you even wanted to call this story a great big metaphor, I wouldn't stop you. Seems about right to me.
And all the while McDonald's writing sets the story's tone. Little sentences are worked in that you might not spot on a first or second reading, but that become very clear and distinct the more you look at the book. When Anabel is certain that she will fail because she is too tired to work properly Mag bucks her up with a sturdy, "walk with your slippers until you find your shoes." Or, "The barking of dogs does not reach heaven." Of course, we never do discover how it is that Mag knows that Anabel is a magnificent tailor, one to be believed in, even to the very last minute. But this concern is brief and fleeting and though I've little doubt that some enterprising young reader will wonder as well, it's not so much of a flaw as it is a narrative gap.
Sometimes an author will set a book in a very distinctive location, like Spain or England, and the accompanying illustrator will work up a quick and dirty sense of the location. England? Great, just slap some furry hats on guys in red coats and voila! Instant British Isles. Brian Floca is not one of these artists. To call him meticulous is to hint at a kind of anal-retentive nature in this work, but I'm having a hard time describing his pictures in this book in any other way. In her Author's Note, McDonald says that she has, "restored the tale to its original setting (Firenze, Old Italy)". Under Floca's hand, that sentence takes on greater weight. From its windowside glances to its multiple aerial views, Floca gets deep into the heard of Firenze. He writes in his Illustrator's Note that while "The Hinky-Pink is no substitute for a reputable art history survey," many of the buildings seen here are particular to Florence. And as Mr. Floca says, "A problem with Florence is that it looks good from every angle. This makes decisions difficult." One can only speculate as to what was rejected, particularly since the final product seems so self-evident and perfectly done.
The colors of the book are interesting too. Set in a kind of 1800s period, the book is awash in pinks, creams, golds, and light cloud-ridden blues. But the pinks and roses are the most significant here. From the shock of hair lighting up the hinky pink's head to the princess's fairytale dress, pink is the name of the game (which may be inspired, in some small part, by the name of the sprite itself). That doesn't mean that Floca doesn't stretch his muscles in other areas as well. I loved the dull, almost dirty colors of Anabel's tiny room where she hems for a living. Or the late afternoon gold that stretches from the Great Castle of Firenze to the bottom of the page. Or, best of all, the explosion of riotous color emanating from the teeny tiny hudgin when at last it finds its own perfect bed.
The speech balloons are an interesting touch for a book containing such classical styles and designs. They are most often exclamations like "Aargh!", "Alas", "At last," and "Holy macaroni". Many of them are Italian in nature, like "Santo cielo!" and "Che bella!" We can't know whose decision it was to create such little cries either. Maybe McDonald wrote them in intending that they be part of the narrative and Floca plucked them out. Or maybe he wrote them on his own and inserted them into the text. Or maybe they were always meant to be balloons. It's hard to say. Yet they offer a nice complement to the sheer amount of action Floca packs into this book. I mean, when that hinky pink first pinches Anabel and pulls off her covers, it's not done gently or lightly but in such a way that she is tossed head over heels backwards, feet in the air. And when she runs about trying to find the hobbledy-gob the panels are broken up with ornate columns, like a comic rife with classical architecture. So between the speech balloons on the one hand and the running, diving, tossing, and turning on the other, this is a pretty lively concoction.
Let's tick them off on our fingers shall we. You have a fun fairytale of an entirely new nature - tick. You have unexpected twists and turns in what at first appears to be an already familiar plot - tick. You have beautiful architecture and an eye pleasing shades and hues - tick. And on top of all that you have enough action and movement to keep you engaged from start to finish - tick tick tick. The pairing of McDonald and Floca wouldn't have occurred to me but then I'm not an editor, am I? That's why they get paid the big bucks, y'know. So if your fairytale sections are running a bit low and you need something wholly new to please your older storytime crew, The Hinky Pink will fit the bill. One-of-a-kind in the best possible way.
Ages 4-8.
April 29, 2021
A seamstress's attempts to create the most princessy gown ever are hindered by a mysterious creature called a Hinky-Pink. With joyous illustrations by Brian Floca.
January 6, 2020
Annabel was a seamstress who longed to work with fine fabrics and materials. When the princess of Firenze ruined her best dress, the princess's servant escorted Annabel to the palace, and gave her the commission of a lifetime: create the gown that the royal lady would wear to the Butterfly Ball. Unfortunately, our heroine found herself tormented by a hinky-pink, a sort of tiny hudgin. How would she create the dress in time, when that annoying hinky-pink wouldn't let her sleep, and her work suffered as a consequence...?
The Hinky Pink was apparently inspired by the story "The Bed Just So," contained in Margery Bailey's 1940 collection, Whistle for Good Fortune. It was also retold by Jeanne B. Hardenoff in 1975. It isn't clear to me, from the author's brief afterword, if this is a traditional Italian tale - McDonald writes of 'restoring' the story to its original setting - or an original fairy-tale that happens to be set in Italy. If the latter, wouldn't the 'hinky pink' have a more Italian name? Whatever the case may be, this was a fairly engaging fairy-tale, one that reminded me a bit of stories like Rumpelstiltskin , which also had a young woman locked up and made to create something for a royal personage. The artwork here, done by Caldecott medalist Brian Floca, captures the zany humor of the story. Recommended to young fairy-tale lovers.
The Hinky Pink was apparently inspired by the story "The Bed Just So," contained in Margery Bailey's 1940 collection, Whistle for Good Fortune. It was also retold by Jeanne B. Hardenoff in 1975. It isn't clear to me, from the author's brief afterword, if this is a traditional Italian tale - McDonald writes of 'restoring' the story to its original setting - or an original fairy-tale that happens to be set in Italy. If the latter, wouldn't the 'hinky pink' have a more Italian name? Whatever the case may be, this was a fairly engaging fairy-tale, one that reminded me a bit of stories like Rumpelstiltskin , which also had a young woman locked up and made to create something for a royal personage. The artwork here, done by Caldecott medalist Brian Floca, captures the zany humor of the story. Recommended to young fairy-tale lovers.
April 26, 2017
This was a cute, unusual story, reminisicent of Rumpelstiltskin, in which the seamstress Anabel is whisked to the princess' tower to make her a gown for the ball. Alas, a mischievous hinky-pink keeps making a mess, keeping Anabel from her sleep, and slowing down the progress of the gown to a crawl. What to do? What I really enjoyed about this story was the way it was told, with interjections of Italian words and phrases here and there. Cute. I read it aloud to the cats. They liked it. Recommended.
March 23, 2019
While it was refreshing to see a story where the woman's ultimate dream was not marriage, it would have been even better if somehow the princess had to face some repercussions for kidnapping a dressmaker.
June 20, 2017
A classic old tale. Fun language - especially for those who see!
February 29, 2020
Read this a few years ago, a retelling of an old folk tale that has flavors of other more well known fairy tales. A tad long for a read aloud for the youngest students. No connection to the word play of hink pinks in spite of the title.
May 10, 2017
Super cute, and gave my kids a taste for Florence.
August 26, 2017
I liked this book because even though the words were tiny like a chapter book and not a picture book, the story was pretty good.
July 29, 2020
This book was cute but not one I need in my collection. Fun to check out and read one time though.
October 29, 2021
It is hard to make a dress for the princess when the Hinky-Pink won't let you sleep. But if you can get the Hinky-Pink to sleep, there may be a chance!
June 21, 2022
My daughter adored this book. She thought the kinky-pink was hilarious. I thought the story was cute but her joy every time we read it, made the book that much more fun.
September 1, 2010
McDonald's "The Hinky-Pink" is a charming reinvention of a classic tale - a seamstress trying to make a princess' gown is stymied by a mischeivous little haunt in an old Florentine castle. Certain things ring familiar to Judy Moody fans, like the seamstress' occupation with succeeding at something important, while having just the right name or the right flair. Italian words are inserted here and there for emphasis, and the colorful and fluid illustrations are integral to the charm of this book. Renaissance Florence shines through pen and ink and watercolor, showcasing the costumes, objects and interior rooms of the period, as well as the Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio, and the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore. Great for booktalking to ages 7-9.
Author's Note: The Hink-Pink was inspired by the tale "The Bed Just So" by Margery Bailey in the book "Whistle for Good Fortune" (Little, Brown & Coampany, 1940). It was later retold by Jeanne B. Hardendorff (Four Winds Press, 1975). I have restored the tale to its original setting (Firenze, Old Italy) and style, but the invention of the princess tale is mine, and the original story featured a tailor rather than a young seamstress. Librarians the world over love to tell this tale aloud, and I first heard it told at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburge, PA, where I once had my beginnings as a children's librarian and storyteller. M.M.
Author's Note: The Hink-Pink was inspired by the tale "The Bed Just So" by Margery Bailey in the book "Whistle for Good Fortune" (Little, Brown & Coampany, 1940). It was later retold by Jeanne B. Hardendorff (Four Winds Press, 1975). I have restored the tale to its original setting (Firenze, Old Italy) and style, but the invention of the princess tale is mine, and the original story featured a tailor rather than a young seamstress. Librarians the world over love to tell this tale aloud, and I first heard it told at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburge, PA, where I once had my beginnings as a children's librarian and storyteller. M.M.
July 21, 2009
My six-year old daughter says all five stars for this book. Here is her review:
When Anabel was bored, she heard a knock on her door. It was the princess Isabella's maid, Mag. Anabel was invited to stay in the castle and make a beautiful dress for the princess. Inside the castle there was a little tiny hinky pink pinching on Anabel every night because it wanted a bed of its own. Anabel couldn't sleep and couldn't make pretty stitches until she finally made the right size bed for the Hinky Pink. When Anabel saw the hinky pink she couldn't believe how tiny it was. Finally the hinky pink was happy, and Anabel could sew her dress for the princess. It was perfectly beautiful.
And here is my review:
I loved a princess book from the point of view of the Princess' seamstress. Anabel is darling, resourceful, talented and creative. It is so much fun to see her triumph in the end, and be just as happy as if she were the one wearing the fancy dress to the ball. McDonald's storytelling is wonderful to read aloud, and Floca's illustrations enhance the story at every turn of the page. His paintings are full of energy and life, and capture the magical feel of Old Florence.
When Anabel was bored, she heard a knock on her door. It was the princess Isabella's maid, Mag. Anabel was invited to stay in the castle and make a beautiful dress for the princess. Inside the castle there was a little tiny hinky pink pinching on Anabel every night because it wanted a bed of its own. Anabel couldn't sleep and couldn't make pretty stitches until she finally made the right size bed for the Hinky Pink. When Anabel saw the hinky pink she couldn't believe how tiny it was. Finally the hinky pink was happy, and Anabel could sew her dress for the princess. It was perfectly beautiful.
And here is my review:
I loved a princess book from the point of view of the Princess' seamstress. Anabel is darling, resourceful, talented and creative. It is so much fun to see her triumph in the end, and be just as happy as if she were the one wearing the fancy dress to the ball. McDonald's storytelling is wonderful to read aloud, and Floca's illustrations enhance the story at every turn of the page. His paintings are full of energy and life, and capture the magical feel of Old Florence.
July 27, 2009
My favorite line from this book sums up the humor in the text: “Holy macaroni!”. This a nontraditional fairy tale of a girl named Anabel, who wishes she was a princess, and real princess, Isabella, who doesn’t quite behave or look like the princess Anabel thinks she should be. Isabella demands that Anabel sew her a beautiful dress in one week. But a mysterious Hinky-Pink keeps messing up Anabel’s work! How will she ever get the dress done? This book is geared towards early readers, and there are plenty of illustrations to guide readers along. The character of Anabel is a realistic heroine who battles the odds against a not-so-nice and not-so-beautiful princess, making this a good story for little girls.
October 13, 2010
This book is about a women named "Anabel".Anabel is a poor women that's needs too work all day.There are three princesses the first one is Isabella,the second one is Caramella and the third one is Gorgonzola.Is called the hinky pink because Anabel asked the princess Isabella if she could stay.Isabella said "YES" but Anabel needs to make her a dress for a ball.So she did but a crature "called" hinky pink kept on stealing what Anabel was going to use, so Anabel made the hinky pink a bed and she liked it and then Anabel made the prettiest dress ever.This book is traditional literature.I want to recomend this book to people that love fairy tales.I like this book because I like story's with princesses.
June 25, 2016
I had never before heard of the Hinky Pink, which the author's note tells us was inspired by the story "The Bed Just So" by Margery Bailey from the book Whistle for Good, and loved by children's librarians. The retelling is by Megan McDonald (of Judy Moody fame). "Old Italy" (which appears to be Florence, with its terracotta rooftops and distinctive Duomo). Anabel is a seamstress in who's been appointed to sew a gown for the Princess Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola in time for the Butterfly Ball, while they eponymous little creature interferes with her nightly sleep. "Holy Pincushions!" Full of textile vocabulary, like embroidery, whip-stitch, silk satin, voile, chiffon, organza, crinoline, and crepe.
September 25, 2010
This story was funny. Anabel was great at sewing. Mag worked for a princess. The princess needed a new dress. Mag took Anabel to the castle to sew a dress. But, Anabel could not sew because something was pinching her and would not let her sleep. Anabel stayed up for three nights. She finally saw the creature. It was a Hinky Pink that needed a bed to sleep in. Anabel made many different kinds of beds. A thimble was the right one. The Hinky Pink was happy and let Anabel sleep. Anabel could finally sew the princesses dress. I would recommend this book to my sister. She loves stories about princesses.
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October 18, 2010This book is about a girl named Anabel,she lived in a tany
room.She trying to make a beatifull dress to the Quin.Some
minute later she knew witch color of the dress she going to
used.She needed those materials to make the dress.She need
scissors and string.In her head she rememeber were she put
the materials.Later she was finish doing the dress and the
quin put it on and was beatifull and the quin like it.
I like this book because how she work.This book is fantisia
because their a princes.
room.She trying to make a beatifull dress to the Quin.Some
minute later she knew witch color of the dress she going to
used.She needed those materials to make the dress.She need
scissors and string.In her head she rememeber were she put
the materials.Later she was finish doing the dress and the
quin put it on and was beatifull and the quin like it.
I like this book because how she work.This book is fantisia
because their a princes.
February 29, 2012
Anabel feels plain, as she is only a seamstress who dreams of being like a princess, with long golden locks and a name that ends in 'ella'. Even though she is not a princess, what she is is the best seamstress around, with cross-stitching abilities to die for. One day she has the opportunity to make a dress for the princess, and finds it is harder with a hinky pink giving her trouble. This fairy tale set in Italy is a lovely story that uses Italian words and phrases, and teaches the value of ingenuity. Its easy-to-hold size is also a bonus.
February 5, 2025
Anabel, a young seamstress, longed to sew a magnificent gown for a fine princess. When Anabel was unexpectedly taken to the Castle tower to sew a ballgown for the princess, she is delighted with all the beautiful supplies and a wonderful place to sleep. But she could not sleep, because every night something woke her with a pinch. The princess’s maid said it was a hinky-pink, so Anabel had to find a way to pacify the hinky-pink so that she could get the gown finished in a very short time. Nicely illustrated.
May 22, 2009
I remember hearing the tale of the hinky pink sometime in my childhood. This version is beautifully illustrated and would be a fun tale to learn to tell aloud. A young seamstress has been asked to make a dress for the princess' ball, but she keeps getting pinched in the night and can't sleep. She eventually has to make a bed for the hinky pink who is pinching her and has to get it just right...not "too high and too hard" or "too soft and too slippery" or "too dark and too deep" but "just so."
April 1, 2009
Very cute Italian fairytale about a seamstress with an obnoxious bedfellow that keeps her from getting to sleep which is particularly bad because she has a very important dress to work on for the princess (who I didn't really like). She learns that she must make the hinky pink a bed of its own so it will stop pinching her and stealing the covers. She tries this and that until she finds the combination that is just right.
June 8, 2010
No one can review a book better than Betsy Bird: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28...
She loved The Hinky-Pink. I did not. However, after having read her thoughts, I see more positives than I did. I kept expecting the book to twist into a play on words: a hinky-pink, or a hinky pinky, or a hinkity pinkity...but alas, it was a strange twist on something somewhat familiar. It just felt like it missed the mark for me.
She loved The Hinky-Pink. I did not. However, after having read her thoughts, I see more positives than I did. I kept expecting the book to twist into a play on words: a hinky-pink, or a hinky pinky, or a hinkity pinkity...but alas, it was a strange twist on something somewhat familiar. It just felt like it missed the mark for me.
September 30, 2010
This fairytale book is about this women that made her own clothes, one day a princess spill something on her new dress for a ballet dance so Anabela nided to make a dress for the princess but every nigth something pinch her so in the morning Anabela found a magic pin and did the dress so they went to ballet dance.A recomend this book to person that like princess books an fantasy.My schema whet this book is when I read some princess books
November 25, 2012
Anabel has been enlisted to create the most beautiful dress for the princess's next ball, but is tormented by a Hinky-Pink, a tiny creature who longs for a bed of its own. I was not very entertained by this story. It felt like the author was trying too hard to include a bunch of different elements and struggled to keep the story exciting. The artwork was sweet (I especially loved the round little nurse, Mag) but is nothing special.
November 3, 2008
I quite enjoyed that book. I loved learning some new Italian words. I liked the illustrations. I loved the little humorous parts (like speech bubbles or having a good laugh at fairy tales). I would enjoy hearing a storyteller tell this one, but I would miss the experience I got which the pictures added to it.
November 26, 2008
Morning, in a slump, and a fellow librarian suggets I read this book she left by the desk - a guaranteed picker-upper. As said in the book, "Stupendo!".
This story is a delight, as is the terrific art by Brian Floca, the wonderful weave of this tale, not retold but reimagined and spun new by Megan McDonald.
I think I am feeling better :)
This story is a delight, as is the terrific art by Brian Floca, the wonderful weave of this tale, not retold but reimagined and spun new by Megan McDonald.
I think I am feeling better :)
March 26, 2009
We really liked this one. It's the story of a young, talented seamstress who is called upon to create a dress for the princess. She has one week to complete the dress, but each night, her sleep is disturbed by the mysterious Hinky Pink. She finally discovers how to please the Hinky Pink and creates a beautiful dress - just in time.
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