‘The Big Princess’
by Taro Miura, Candlewick Press $14.99, ages 2-5
The kids in my house almost didn’t make it past the tiara-ed princess on the cover. They are rare creatures — children who are immune to the charms of “Frozen.” I had to coax them into reading Taro Miura’s “The Princess” with two hooks: It’s a companion book to “The Tiny King,” which they love and — here’s the most alluring charm of this book — it’s a suspenseful story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Books with a fact or a poem or an observation on each page can engage and surprise, but it’s increasingly rare to find a picture book with a juicy plot. “The Big Princess” delivers in the style of an old-fashioned fairy tale.
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Once upon a time a king and queen had a thriving garden, but no children. Then one night a white bird appears in the king’s dream bringing the welcome news that he and his wife will find a daughter among their flowers in the morning. However, there is a catch (at this point the children stopped fidgeting). The princess is under a spell and the king and queen will have to break it before the girl can become their real daughter. If they fail, their kingdom will be destroyed and “lost forever.”
The next morning, the king finds a tiny princess among the blossoms and brings her to his queen who “could not believe that someone so precious would ever bring them harm.” But true to the title, the princess grows. Her increasing size allows for mixed-media pizzazz in the illustrations. Her first bed in a tiny ring box has a border of photo-realistic gems. Once the geometric princess reaches giant size a vintage photo of a bespectacled official posing next to a wall chart nestles on the page opposite the girl who now towers over her parents. A vertical fold-out page heightens the drama before the story’s satisfying resolution. The playful, modern mix of textures and styles paired with the traditional story elements will enchant even the most princess-resistant children.
Nicole Lamy can be reached at nlamy@globe.com.