What's My Name? (The Not So Little Princess) by Tony Ross and Wendy Finney

What's My Name? (The Not So Little Princess) by Tony Ross and Wendy Finney
Buy What's My Name? (The Not So Little Princess) by Tony Ross and Wendy Finney at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Emerging Readers
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: The Little Princess grows up and we have an engaging story in this early reader. Fans of the picture book series will appreciate this step into chapter books.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 64	Date: August 2014
Publisher: Andersen
ISBN: 978-1849395793
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Now, I do hope that what I'm about to tell you won't be too upsetting. The Little Princess is growing up and it's causing a problem in the palace. You see the little princess has always been known as, well, the Little Princess. Whilst the Queen was helping to make cucumber sandwiches the King was striding up and down, wearing the carpet out and making his shoes squeak. He had a problem - a big problem. Now that the little princess was growing up was it really appropriate to continue calling her the Little Princess? There was an open secret in the palace: everyone knew the little princess's real name - but no one was prepared to tell her what it was.

She had been named after an elderly relative and everyone knows that when the Little Princess is told about the name she will be Furious. In a glorious piece of palace buck passing all the staff, from the highest to the low, seem to have forgotten the name or have some good reason for not spilling the beans. Eventually it falls to the king to break the news...

We all know the Little Princess picture books by Tony Ross. Generations of children have grown up with them. Illustrator Ross has now teamed up with author Wendy Finney to produce an early reader for the franchise and children familiar with the picture books will be helped by moving into chapter books with a character they know. I worried that it might be disappointing, but I didn't need to. Ross has done a wonderful job of making the Little Princess just that little bit older, if not a great deal more mature and Finney has given us a story which tantalises us as to what the Little Princess is really called.

It's a good early reader, with six chapters which allow the emerging reader to get a chapter 'under their belt' with the minimum of fuss. Illustrations give clues as to the odd word which might prove difficult without help. The vocabulary is challenging without being too difficult and there's a great build up to the announcement of the name - it's bound to keep children wanting to read. The book has a substantial feel to it and the paper is thick enough to keep shadows showing through from the other side, which can be distracting to new readers. My only quibble is that the shiny paper can make reading more difficult.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Boys are bound to appreciate Horrid Henry's Wedding byFrancesca Simon and Tony Ross.

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