The Princess In Black

The Princess In Black

By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale

Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Princess Magnolia is prim and proper, as a princess should be.  She wears frilly pink dresses and takes tea with duchesses and never gets her hands dirty.  But Princess Magnolia has a secret: when the monster alarm rings, she knows she has to go.  She runs to her broom closet and quickly transforms into the Princess in Black!

Now, a princess/superhero needs a trusty steed.  Luckily, Princess Magnolia’s unicorn Frimplepants also has an alter-ego: the faithful Blacky.

The Princess in Black lives near the entrance to Monster Land.  Those mischievous monsters come out of their hole to try to eat local goats and cause all kinds of destruction. Luckily the Princess in Black and Blacky are ready to fight.  But can Princess Magnolia keep her identity a secret?

Girl power abounds in this series of stories for early readers.  Chapters are short and illustrations abound.   They also make great read-alouds.

The Princess in Black

By Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Phem.

“Princesses do not run. Princesses do not stuff frilly pink dresses into broom closets. Princesses do not wear black. And princesses most definitely do not slide down secret chutes and high-jump castle walls” but Princess Magnolia is not just any princess, she is the Princess in Black! With the help of her trusty pony, Frimplepants, Magnolia fights off the monsters that threaten the kingdom of Monster Land. Since fighting monsters is hardly proper behaviour for a princess, Magnolia must do it all undercover, making sure that Duchess Wigtower never finds out her secret. A proper super-hero-princess with a secret identity!

This is a great book written for children that are starting to read on their own. The words are large, the sentences are short, the vocabulary is simple, and the pages are covered with wonderfully coloured illustrations. This story bends gender bias by giving us a heroine who is out saving the world, dressed all in black like Zorro, while also enjoying pink dresses and tea time.