The Princess and the Frozen Packet of Peas
In this modern take on the tale of the Princess and the Pea, Prince Henrik decides that sometimes real princesses can be too sensitive!
Prince Henrik wants to marry an outdoorsy kind of girl, and he knows just how to find her: instead of a single pea tucked into a pile of bedding, Henrik tests prospective brides with an entire packet of frozen peas shoved under a flimsy camping mattress.
Henrik despairs as princess after princess complains. He begins to believe he'll never find the girl of his dreams, until one day she shows up unexpectedly in the form of his old friend, Pippa. Pippa is all too happy to join Henrik in pitching a tent or playing a hard game of hockey, after which she finds the perfect use for that packet of frozen peas!
Illustrated by Sue deGennaro, this is my most successful international title, published in the USA, Canada, the UK and China. It was released by Scholastic in 2009.
Reviews for Princess
This book was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal – always a must read publication for kids! It’s also had a heap of glowing reviews on Goodreads, including:
“I love this book. I buy this book for birthday presents. I recommend this book to friends. I retell this story to my adult friends and they all enjoy it” Awesome Books
“A fun and perfect fractured fairy tale that will appeal to boys!” Karen
“It’s not perfect–I think he pops the question a little too soon, but this is by far the best picture book about a prince I’ve read.” Kelly
Other reviews:
Little girls will love this book because it is a story about a prince in search of a princess. After reading it, I hope little girls, and big girls, love the story because Prince Henrik re-defines what it means to be a princess. Boys will also like this book thanks to the athletic Prince Henrik and the silly, silly girls who could not sleep one night with a bag of frozen peas underneath them. I really like the humorous The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas. Mr. Wilson has taken an iconic tale and flipped it on its head, giving little girls a story they can dream about without losing their own identities. Prince Henrik . . . I love you!
Kids Lit Reviews, 19/1/13
This story about gender stereotypes brings back fond memories of Babette Cole's 'Princess Smartypants', the greatest pre-school feminist literature of all time.”
Rochelle Galloway, Burnie Advocate, 11/7/09
Wilson's quirky tale about being nice, sharing common interests and finding true love is perfectly interpreted by deGennaro's unusual, highly patterned illustrations in soft pastel colours. There is a naive, child-like exuberance to her drawing style, with buidlings that teeter in the sky, thin limbed characters with simplified but highly expressive faces, and often very individual interpretations of the text. This is a delightfully different and very humorous modern version of a familiar tale.
Stephanie Owen Reeder, Australian Book Review, June 2009
Tony Wilson's droll picture book recasting of the old tale of how to distinguish a real princess from an ordinary girl.
Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal, 30/3/12
This funny tale reminds us all that the perfect princess doesn’t need to be “beautiful and sensitive”. Sometimes, having a pleasing personality is all that matters!
Speak Good English Movement
As the mother of a five year-old girl who believes princesses must have long blonde hair, blue eyes and stilettos (preferably gem-stone encrusted), this book was a breath of fresh air.
Phillipa Macken, Newcastle's Child, 27/4/09
I love this book for lots of reasons – I like to laugh with the kids, I like a fairytale that doesn’t make me cringe on the inside as I’m reading it and I like the fact that Pippa is authentic and likeable as opposed to helpless and simpering. Bring on more princesses like Pippa!
Babyology
The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas makes an excellent book for teaching story grammar/narrative principles to mid to late primary (elementary) students. It's very effective because it follows all the conventions of story grammar, such as initiating event, problem, plan, and conclusion.
SpeechLanguage Resources.com
Read by Tiffany, NFL cheerleader!
Princes has had some terrific online YouTube readers, but it is the only one of my books that has made it to an NFL website . Tiffany, cheerleader with the Atlanta Falcons, chose it as her favourite book for Read with a Falcon.
My unreal princess Pippa!
My little sister’s name is Pippa, and she really does love hockey and camping! She played State League 1 hockey for Kew, and lives in Darwin from where she often visits Kakadu. She married Woody, a prince from the hockey club.
