Princess Penelope's Parrot

Laugh-Along Lessons

by Helen Lester, Lynn Munsinger (Illustrator)

Spoiled Princess Penelope cannot get her new parrot to talk, even after threatening it and calling it nasty names. But when Prince Percival comes courting, the parrot gets revenge on the greedy princess in a hilarious and fitting conclusion.

Featuring bonus audio!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Princesses, Fairy Tales, Animals, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Helen Lester is the author of many children’s books. Her background with children includes being a mother of two and a former elementary school teacher of ten years. While at home with her children, Helen realized the importance of quality children’s literature. Helen started her writing career as a struggling author facing many rejections by publishing companies. Her first book was finally published in 1979. Helen Lester is a full-time writer who makes her home in New York.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to read this book over and over and over as a kid. I completely forgot about it but found it while going through the shelves at my library. Ohh, it took me right back! I nearly cried at the nostalgia it brought back! It's interesting how things that were once so important to us can be forgotten but quickly remembered once we are reminded.

[Sandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter (5) and I both loved this book. It shows kids a very bratty princess and how she gets what she deserves from the very parrot that she was so mean to in the story.

Princess Penelope was a very bratty character and I liked that the parrot showed the visiting Prince that she liked so much just exactly what kind of little princess she really is! Of course you can't miss the irony of the parrot who doesn't speak all through the book suddenly speaking at this very important moment!

I felt bad for the parrot....but I guess he fixed her in the end!

I don't think I liked the ending much....I'm not entirely sure that the Princess learned any lasting lessons here. But still its nice sometimes just to see someone get their just desserts.

Parents looking at this may not like the name calling, the Princess does call the poor parrot names a time or two in the book. My daughter immediately picked up on that and liked pointing it out, I think just so she could say the word stupid...but that was soon taken care of. Its part of the story....enhancing the picture the writer is trying to give us of just exactly how un-princess like Penelope is.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spoiled, obnoxious girl who "gets what she deserves" in a humorous way. Loved the parrot as I felt sorry for him and then cheered him on.

I'd use it for a storytime, but all that name calling? I just couldn't do it.

8/12/10 Well, I needed a book. And after thinking about it, I figured the school-age group could handle the name calling. It doesn't promote it anyhow. So I used the book in my fun storytelling "theme" and it was wonderful. The kids loved the pictures and the story. And it was a lot of fun to read out loud.

8/6/13 I couldn't find any good pirate books to read to my Spelunkers, so I opted for this because of the parrot. I had a pretty quiet crowd when I read. They were into my other activities, but not quite there with the books. So I don't know if it was them, or if the book was not quite right for the age group (most were 4 and 5). The adults seemed to smile a bit.

[Jillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The princess doesn't learn her lesson. I repeat - the princess doesn't learn her lesson. She's embarrassed for awhile, and then "got over it" and starts practicing how to be fake again just in case the "second richest prince" stops by to say hello.

For grown-ups, maybe a "refreshing" tale about how sometimes people just suck. For children, more of a lesson on how to hide your character flaws and try again next time than on why it's important to be a decent person.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an older picture book. Published in 1996. I was not writing for children at the time but I was reading to them. I had boys so did not probably come across this book as a young mom. I love most of Helen's work and I would probably read this for story time but to older children so they could understand that acting one way in private and another in public is wrong. Also, calling names is wrong and although the prince and the parrot leave does the princess really learn her lesson? As I have studied more recently for my MFA - the main character needs to change. This character did not.

[Cat]

Penelope wears a dress that has lots of ruffles because that is what she wanted. She is a spoiled girl who get anything she wants. For her birthday, she got bejeweled roller blades and lots of cake. She also got a bird that did not talk, but all of the mean things she says to it come back to haunt her.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My three year old learned to call people "Stupid Buzzards" from this book. It spends so much time on relational aggression and so little time on its lesson that all she got was the relational aggression part.

[denise shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

zxbsrgbsrgbrtbrsgvsdfvsdc adfvdfbrsgbfsgnyngfgtynfdfv cybernetics sfgbfsgbrsgbdsv rechargeable egg egg egg rhm.Heisenberg 😘😄😣😂😄😚😣😂😄😚😣😘🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😑😑😑😑😑😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😥😥😥😮😮😮🤐😇😋😊🤗😉🙂😆😚😓😔😤😣😅☺😥😌😖 🙃😧🤕💩💩💩🙈🙈🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉🙉👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gimme gimme gimme! Princess Penelope says when she sees her present - a parrot. Mine! Mine! Mine! Talk! When the parrot won't talk, Penelope gets mad. When parrot begins repeating what she said to a visiting prince, the prince thinks penelope is talking to him .

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiled little girl gets what she deserves.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the lesson that we learn in this book - that the way we treat others matters.

[The Reading Writing Puppet · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are terrible, and the moral of the story just doesn’t do it for me. The princess didn’t learn a lesson. The parrot was cute.

[Healthy Dose of Self-Destruction · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★★★★✩✩✩
7/10 Bom

[Emma Rewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Lester wins again, as always.

[Kelly Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Helen Lester, but this was forgettable. We read this back in June, and I already forgot what the story is about. A bratty princess and her parrot? Eh.

[Nanny B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle with books that portray bratty, horrible behaved children. In the end her brattiness was exposed by the parrot, so that made for a better ending.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank gave it 5 stars too

[Diana Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helen Lester started as an elementary school teacher. She taught a second grade class and uses them in her books. She was an illustrator in the book called Author: A True Story. She's won some Children's Choice Awards and one of her books was recognized in 17 different states. Her books are unique in which some have a social and emotional concept about being different, standing out, and even acting up.


I thought this book was a fun read. It had many new vocabulary words and used onomatopoeias. The story line was a bit annoying reading about a bratty little girl but it was silly to see the outcome. Children can learn that it's not a good idea to be mean because you can lose friends that way. It teaches them to take a look at theirselves and think about how they sound. There could also be a lesson on empathy to talk about how the other characters felt. The illustrations showed their expressions well and had a lot of detail to them. I also like how when she was watching t.v you could see a character from Helen's book Tacky the Penguin. I liked how it ended because it was unexpected and well deserved. Children can have fun writing alternate endings as well.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1996, Lester's classic tale about a spoiled and selfish princess who's chances to charm a handsome and rich prince are ruined when her new parrot repeats back to him all the rude comments she made to it, has been reissued with a downloadable audio (complete with sound effects) and a downloadable teacher's discussion and activity guide (which oddly enough, does not include Princess Penelope's Parrot). The access code to the free downloads appears to allow for multiple uses rather a "one and done" model. Lynn Munsinger's illustrations capture the absurdity of Princess Penelope's petulance and the consequences of her actions. For those needing to refresh the original book or for library's that don't own the original, this is a great value at $9. A humorous reminder to be wise with your words.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Princess Penelope is a spoiled brat. "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and "Mine, Mine, Mine " is what she always says. She has everything even a parrot she hates because he does not talk. But just wait until the little Prince Percival comes calling and the parrot finds his voice. It is a very funny talel and the ending is great!




Helen Lester was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1936. She was and elementary school teacher when she married and had two sons. She began writing while taking time off from teaching. Her first book was published in 1979 and she has over two dozen books published now. She illustrated some of her books but mostly works with illustrator Lynn Munsinger. She loves to visit schools encouraging children to write.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining, but somewhat annoying story about a bratty princess whose words come back to haunt her. She is incredibly rude and mean to those around her, and especially to a parrot that refuses to speak at her command. We see Penelope get her comeuppance, however, when the object of her affection is horrified and runs away from the same words she has just spoken to others. We were excited to read this book as it was created by the team who also created the Tacky series. We weren't quite as thrilled with this book, but it was an interesting and cautionary story.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Princess Penelope is a spoiled brat who get a clever parrot on top of birthday cake. She is rude to her parrot so he refuses to talk for her. She used phrases that are mean, cruel and threatening but the bird still refuses to talks. And then rich Prince Percival is coming for a visit -- the prince of her dreams! She tidies up and hides the silly parrot behind the curtains before she invites Percival in.
And then the parrot decides to TALK!
This is a great story to help reinforce kind words and deeds. When the parrot mimics back all that he has been taught Penelope gets what she deserves!
Makes a great read aloud or bedtime story!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Princess Penelope is definitely a brat-an enormous brat-who doesn't necessarily learn her lesson. However, her story is an entertaining one as she faces a comeuppance delivered by her parrot. I have taught with this book many times because it is an excellent demonstration of character traits and identifying evidence from the text that prove them. I have done that with second, third, fourth, and fifth graders and it has always been a successful lesson. It is a fun read aloud--but if you are sensitive to name calling, this book may not be for you.

[Seashell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Q really liked this book. She showed frustration with the brattiness of the princess and at the end of the book said, "she got what was coming to her".
Later that night, Q stumbled upon her birthday present (a doll) that I would have given her in two months for her birthday. I gave it to her early and she said, "thankyou so much mommy, I really appreciate this...I'm not like Penelope who wasn't grateful...I'm grateful"

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Princess Penelope does not learn her lesson here. It's up to the author to decide that what happened to her was bad and why. So perhaps it's a little good for some low-level inference, but it's not good for teaching a lesson. The Princess's consequences are delayed and even then, they're a little bizarre. What's the lesson: You'll get what's coming to you? A previously timid person will rise up against you and steal your man if you're mean to him? I'm just not into this story at all.

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty bratty book. Better to read to a child who knows the difference between when he/she is being bratty and knows it versus a child who doesn't know when he/she is being bratty. You don't want the bratty thing to catch on!

[Sarah A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting picture book all about greedy Princess Penelope's parrot. It tries to teach the lesson about not being greedy and instead being polite. Would have preferred a few more pages on the polite behaviour.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"TALK, BIG BEAK!"

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this book several times at bedtime. It is about a smart parrot and a spoiled little princess.

[Caren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love most books by Helen Lester. This one is a big hit with the kids.
It teaches kids in a fun way about not being selfish.