Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake

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Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake

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Category: For Sharing
Rating: 5/5
Reviewer: Kerry King
Reviewed by Kerry King
Summary: The little princess wants everything now, or else - she'll cry! But what happens when she wants her very own dragon? It's time for a whole river of tears. With beautiful, fresh illustrations and a laugh-out-loud text, this is a glorious tale of adventure, friendship and finally learning to say please.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32 Date: March 2012
Publisher: Alison Green Books
ISBN: 978-1407115610

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The little princess is used to having everything she wants immediately. She wears a sparkly dress and a sparkly tiara; she sleeps in a sparkly bed and plays with sparkly toys. And whenever she wants something new, she just shouts at the top of her lungs that if she doesn't get it, she will cry. And do you know what? She gets it! Straight away! But having what she wants, the minute she wants it doesn't make the little princess happy. Because she isn't smiling at all. In fact, she never smiles. Ever. Nothing is ever quite good enough for this little princess.

One day, the princess is looking out of a window at the palace where she lives and she spots a dragon in the sky. She shouts

I want that dragon! Now! Get it, or…… I'll cry!

But the dragon is too fast for the courtiers' nets and the princess does not get her dragon.

So she cries.

And she cries. And she cries and cries until the palace is so full of her tears that the walls go pop and the little princess is swept away on a wave of salty water. When the flood waters finally abate, the princess discovers she is in a gloomy wood and who should she meet, but the dragon.

Never Say No To A Princess is just one more story in the long and successful writing career of Tracey Corderoy (she appears to change the illustrators depending on the type of story, which is really quite clever and makes her stories a little bit more diverse than some others in the genre) and we absolutely loved it! It is gorgeously drawn and illustrated with lots of metallic sparkle and pinky purple princessy hues and the story is instantly engaging, but the true delight of this tale is that it's so relatable! I know, I know - it's a princess and a dragon and you are probably scratching your head, but let me explain: this is the tale of an unhappy little girl who gets everything she wants by being mean and shouty and spoiled. The story is about her discovery that the only way she can really be happy (and get the thing she most wants) is by learning how to be polite and nice and by saying please and thank you and understanding how to treat other people.

This is a great lesson to teach your pre-schooler, because if they are not already on the path to acknowledging that making loud demands rather than asking nicely is how good children behave (the ones that get to stay on Santa's Good List) then the little princess is a terrific example, particularly for little girls with a tendency towards little madam.

In summary, we really, really love this story. My 4 year old daughter thought the princess behaved terribly (music to a parent's ears) and that the elves were definitely going to be crossing her name off of Santa's list this year. We were both entirely captivated by the journey the story took and though we do especially love a happy ending, we don't want one at any cost. Pleasingly, my daughter understood the concept immediately (so gratifying!) and we were enchanted from start to end.

For further reading and perhaps to learn a little bit more about dragons, we like The Trouble with Dragons by Debi Gliori. We also hugely enjoy reading any of The Little Princess books, but especially I Want a Sister (Little Princess) by Tony Ross.

Lastly, we at Bookbag would like to extend our thanks to the lovely folks at Alison Green Books for sending us this copy to review.

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Buy Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Never Say No to a Princess! by Tracey Corderoy and Kate Leake at Amazon.com.

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