The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo with Seventeen Other Laughable Tales and 200 Comical Silhouettes by John Bennett (published 1928) is an uneven collection of original stories and poems taking place around the world. The varied settings of the stories include somewhat realistic to fantastical and magical other worlds. About half of the stories were

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The Princess Problem by Rebecca Hains (Sourcebooks, September 1, 2014) focuses on the issues surrounding the princess culture so rampant in our nation among the youngest of girls. Ms. Hains focuses on the problem with  an emphasis on princesses among young girls, the issues of what is portrayed in the popular princess movies, and what

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The Unruly Queen by E.S. Redmond (Candlewick, 2012) is about a spoiled and unpleasant child, who will not listen to her nannies. When her 53rd nanny crowns her queen of Petulant Peak, Minerva is not quite so sure she wants to be queen there and goes about proving to her nanny that she does behave!

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A Few Blocks by Cybele Young (Groundwood Books, 2011) tells the story of two kids walking a few blocks to school. Walking to school seems like it would be a boring premise, but Ferdie and Viola’s imagination sees them through. Each time the two kids enter their imaginative world, they leave the black-and-white everyday scene behind and

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The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated by Poly Bernatene (Walker and Company, September 2011) is the story of a princess and a pig whose parents believe they are in a fairy tale. In a rather amusing switch, a baby princess is swapped with a baby piglet. The farmer and his wife are amazed

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Mudkin by Stephen Gammell (Carolrhoda, April 2011) is an clever book about an imaginary friend, in this case, one that comes from playing in the mud. A little girl discovers a mud creature called Mudkin who invites her to his castle where she will be queen. Although there is little text (Mudkin does not speak English but

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Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky is absolutely beautiful and much deserving of the 1998 Caldecott Award. Zelinsky explains in the note at the end that he was trying to imitate the Renaissance style of art because that is what he thought of when he recalled the story of a girl in a tower. The story is

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Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky (Caldecott Honor 1987) is a beautiful picture book that retells of various versions of the Grimm’s story. I liked the tenderness in the expression of the mother and baby and the golden room was gorgeous. Rumpelstiltskin himself was exotic and strange and highly appropriate for the story at hand. I have

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Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert with text translated by Randall Jarrell (Caldecott Honor 1972) is a retelling from the Brothers Grimm. I did not like this book, either the translation or the illustrations. The illustrations are infrequent and the text heavy (there is a two-page spread of text and then a

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as translated and illustrated by Wanda Gág is an enjoyable illustrated retelling of the fairy tale, first published in 1938. It is rather text heavy, and the story is morbidly close to the Brother’s Grimm’s account with the witch eating the boar’s heart. But in this version, the black-and-white line

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Cinderella, or, The Little Glass Slipper by Marcia Brown (Caldecott Winner 1955) has crayon, watercolor, and ink with appropriately gentle pictures for the story of a little Cinderella, who pines after the ball. At first glance (the cover) I wasn’t sure about the illustrations, but once I opened the book and saw the coloring of

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