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The Princess In Black by Shannon & Dean Hale Book Review

The Princess In Black by Shannon & Dean Hale
Illustrations LeUyen Pham
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: October 14, 2014

Princess Magnolia may look like your average princess. After all, she wears pink dresses, had a fancy crown, and has tea with Duchesses. but Princess Magnolia is keeping a secret. When her kingdom is in trouble she transforms into a monster smashing Princess in Black. The real trick though is not her crime-fighting persona but rather keeping it a secret from the nosy Duchess Wigtower who is sure that the Princess cannot be as perfect as she seems to be.

This is the kind of book I would have liked as a kid. When I was little, I loved climbing in trees as much as I liked my paper dolls. Since most girls and especially princesses were not like me in books, the characters I pretended to be were Belle Starr the female outlaw, a fighting elf from the Hobbit, the completely imagined sister in the Swiss Family Robinson. I wanted adventures and none of them involved falling in love with a Prince.

The Princess In Black is a simple chapter book with just the right amount of humor, adventure, and secrets. It is for this new generation of girls who need to know that it is okay if they wear pink, but they can also be a princess in black.

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