Book review: The Paper Bag Princess

“Ronald,” said Elizabeth, “your clothes are really pretty and your hair is all neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum.”

My curiosity was certainly piqued when I read those lines. “This does not quite sound like a fairy tale with ‘happily ever after’”, I thought. 

“The title of the book is ‘The Paper Bag Princess’, why was she called that Mama? Does she not have any clothes? What happened to her?” Those questions (by Dumpling) came fast and furious and so, I sat down and read it with Dumpling.

:: About the Author

Written by Robert Munsch who studied 7 years to be a Jesuit priest, he uncovered a talent in stories and writing when he worked in daycare. This eccentric author (who later decided that he was “lousy priest material”) has a strange habit of visiting schools and daycares for free and (get this!) he usually does not tell them that he is going!

So I went and knocked on the door of Ms. Clebanoff¹s grade 2 and said, “Hi! I’m Bob Munsch. Remember you asked me to come and visit when you wrote me last year?”

Mrs. Clebanoff just stood there and didn’t say anything so I tried again.

I said, “Hi! My name is Bob Munsch and I am from Canada and your class wrote me a letter and asked me to come and visit and I was driving by on the Ventura Freeway and I came by for a visit and do you want me to tell some stories to your class or should I go back to the Ventura Freeway and stop bothering you?”

Mrs. Clebanoff said, “Canada? Bob Munsch??? Stories????”; And then she finally figured it out and yelled, “Kids, drop everything, we have a visitor!”  Source

:: The plot

Now, with a spunky author like that, how can his stories be boring? :)

Dumpling read it to me and chuckled along the way. The story celebrates feisty females through the main character Elizabeth who met a nasty dragon which burnt away everything she owns and abducted her fiancé. A battle of wit versus brawn, how will Elizabeth be able to rescue her prince and outsmart the dragon?

I like the modern twist where Elizabeth stood up for herself and for her beliefs and did not allow the prince to walk all over her. As it is a fairly short story, the story grew on me only as I read it a second and a third time, but grew it did. Dumpling and I also had discussions around the Prince's choice of words and his attitude. I feel that the story, being quite 'straight-to-the-point', can be used as a read-aloud for 3 year olds instead of the recommended for ages 4 – 7. Great for little girls and certainly as a gift too. 

Author:  Robert Munsch

Illustrator: Michael Martchenko

I received this title from My Imagination Kingdom in order to do a review on and give my opinion of it. 

Up for grabs! I am also pleased that My Imagination Kingdom is doing a giveaway of this title! 

I have 2 copies (each worth $14.90) to give away! Here's how to win! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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(Note: this giveaway is only for Singapore Residents only) 

I was also invited guest post at My Imagination Kingdom to share my experiences and tips on read aloud and literacy. Hop on over to find out more!