Children's Book Saturday - "The Princess and the Pig"

"The Princess and the Pig"

By: Jonathan Emmett

Synopsis from Amazon:

There's been a terrible mix-up in the royal nursery. Priscilla the princess has accidentally switched places with Pigmella, the farmer's new piglet. The kindly farmer and his wife believe it's the work of a good witch, while the ill-tempered king and queen blame the bad witch-after all, this happens in fairy tales all the time! While Priscilla grows up on the farm, poor yet very happy, things don't turn out quite so well for Pigmella. Kissing a frog has done wonders before, but will it work for a pig?

 My Thoughts:
     Wow! I'm not a huge fan of Princess stories, but I loved the tongue in cheek references to other fairy tales. In this story, a princess and a pig trade places through a series of mishaps. The royal couple decides their daughter has been turned into a pig, and the farmer's family decide the pig has been turned into a child. So each family raises the opposite of what they originally start out with, often hilariously. The little girl turns out to be wise, smart and kind...while the pig who has been raised by the royal family, enjoys eating, tearing up things and being messy.
      The book talks about all sorts of other fairy tales that directly relate to this story. Thumbelina, The Prince and the Pauper, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, and The Frog Prince are all mentioned and directly related to within these pages. A great way to segway into other stories through the use of this princess fairy tale.

All illustrations are the Copyright of Polly Bernatene

      I would be remiss not to mention the great illustrations. The story is funny, but the pictures truly make the story magical. Even I, who hardly ever laughs out loud in a story, giggled while reading this book. A great book for young and old, I highly recommend picking this one up!



All illustrations Copyrighted by Polly Bernatene