Primrose by Alex T Smith

Primrose by Alex T Smith
Buy Primrose by Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Ruth Ng
Summary: Turning the Royal family upside down, this is a lovely story about letting go and having fun!
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: April 2013
Publisher: Scholastic
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1407109664
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Princess Primrose is bored, bored, bored! Everyone is so formal, so serious and proper, and Primrose just longs to have some fun. Everyone in the palace is constantly telling her off, telling her what not to do. The Queen is worried about her, wondering how Primrose will ever learn to behave like a proper princess. In the end they decide that they must call in Grandmama, for surely if anyone can make Primrose behave it's Grandmama!

When Grandmama arrives she looks rather intimidating, arriving under a black rain cloud, stern and uncompromising. But, as is the way with children's stories, things turn out rather differently, for when Grandmama tells everyone in the palace that they must do exactly what she says it turns out that her plans aren't quite what the King and Queen had in mind! Before too long the King is ordered to climb a tree in the Royal Orchard with Primrose. Then the Queen is made to change into a monkey costume and jump on the bed with Primrose! More and more fun activities follow, with Primrose looking happier and happier. As Grandmama says It doesn't do anybody any good being so serious all the time. What this place needed was a sprinkle of fun and some good old belly-laughs.

I like this story. I like poor Primrose, who is just trying to be a normal little girl and have some fun. I really like Grandmama too, and how she bosses everyone into being silly together. I like the idea behind the story too, that it doesn't do to be too serious all the time, and I think that there are a good few parents who could probably do with putting down their iphones now and again and having a go on the monkey bars with their little ones or blowing some bubbles in the park! The story is easy to follow, and there are plenty of enlarged words in the text to help you out when added emphasis is required on some words, like a particularly loud Gosh uttered by the King or the description of Primrose's royal outfits being very uncomfortable!

As you'd expect with a book from Alex T Smith the illustrations are beautifully done. Princess Primrose has a pet pug named Percy (loving all that alliteration!) I love Primrose's pig tails, sticking out throughout the story and hanging the other way around when she is upside down in a tree! I also liked seeing Percy the Pug upside down in the tree too! Of course, I then became a Percy spotter, looking out to see what he's doing on each page. Look out for his miner's light, and a rather fetching bath cap! The pictures are all colourful and fun, with delightful characters and, of course, they really add something special to the story.

It is rather a 'pink' book, which I suppose is only to be expected since it's about a princess and I know you might have a hard job getting any little boys to read it! But I think that's a shame as I'm sure they'd enjoy the story if they tried it! Still, read it to your little girls at bedtime, enjoy the lovely pictures, and think about leaving your serious face behind tomorrow and think of what fun adventures you can have with them in the morning.

For more princess fun you might like to try The Princess and the Peas and Carrots by Harriet Ziefert and Travis Foster or Tony Ross' wonderful Little Princess stories in A Little Princess Treasury by Tony Ross

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You can read more book reviews or buy Primrose by Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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