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Review: The Princess Rules

February 27, 2020

Originally written by Philippa Gregory for her daughter, and now (20 years later) reimagined for her grandchildren, the Princess Rules stories are truly empowering for young girls. This book contains three short stories, set in a classic fairytale world – but Princess Florizella is far from your classic fairytale princess. I adored the humour in these stories and I think this will appeal to an adult reading to a child too, especially the fact that Gregory blames the parents for not following the princess rules, with fabulous quotes like this: ‘The queen was particularly neglectful – she completely forgot to die and leave her daughter to a cruel stepmother to make her herd geese or sit in cinders’. Florizella, as a result, is left to grow into a sassy, confident princess who certainly didn’t want to sit around waiting for a prince to rescue her, or grow up to marry a prince. In these tales, Florizella becomes best friends with Prince Bennet as well as battling dragons, rescuing wolves and confronting a giant.

Book Title: The Princess Rules (available here)

Author: Philippa Gregory

Illustrator: Chris Chatterton

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: Nov 2019

Most Suitable For: Years 2-4

Reviewed By: Angela Kent

Originally written by Philippa Gregory for her daughter, and now (20 years later) reimagined for her grandchildren, the Princess Rules stories are truly empowering for young girls.

This book contains three short stories, set in a classic fairytale world – but Princess Florizella is far from your classic fairytale princess. I adored the humour in these stories and I think this will appeal to an adult reading to a child too, especially the fact that Gregory blames the parents for not following the princess rules, with fabulous quotes like this: ‘The queen was particularly neglectful – she completely forgot to die and leave her daughter to a cruel stepmother to make her herd geese or sit in cinders’. Florizella, as a result, is left to grow into a sassy, confident princess who certainly didn’t want to sit around waiting for a prince to rescue her, or grow up to marry a prince. In these tales, Florizella becomes best friends with Prince Bennet as well as battling dragons, rescuing wolves and confronting a giant.

The fantastic storytelling, together with Chris Chatterton’s beautiful illustrations, is likely to make this a very popular read within schools.

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