A BIRTHDAY FOR THE PRINCESS

by Anita Lobel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 1973

At the outset Lobel sketches desolation in a concrete, comic verbal synopsis of the princess' routine and a few charming full-page pictures of a vulnerable little girl smothered in bustling opulence. Ignored except for daily exhortations to sit straight and write neatly in her copybook, the princess converses one day from her window with a young organ grinder whom she invites to her birthday party. Of course he is not allowed into the palace at party time, but when the king and queen become too engrossed in the entertainment (The Noctambule Nonsense Dancers, The Juvenile Juggling Team of Pergolesi, Pergolesi and Smith, The Philistine Palaver Poetry Players) to bother with the princess, she borrows the Fantastic Fandango Fakir's rope, slips out the window, and runs off with her friends the organ grinder and his monkey to another kingdom, where the flowery idyll of their life contrasts delightfully with the surfeit of patterns and raffles back home. A child doesn't have to live in a castle to recognize these peremptory parents and to dream of just such romantic liberation.

Pub Date: Oct. 31, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: CHILDREN'S