THE RAPPING PRINCESS

From the creators of My Hair (2019) comes a tale about a princess who finds her voice.

Shiloh lives in a “grand house” in her kingdom, and she has a tough problem: “You see, every princess in the kingdom could sing. / Yet Shiloh’s voice could do no such thing.” The doctor can’t help her. The top vocal coach thinks she’s hopeless. One day, she passes by some visiting princes making beats and rapping, and she wants to try it too. She jumps right in with her own rhymes, awing the princes with her talent. Shiloh is still sad about her voice and keeps trying to find a remedy to her lack of singing talent. But when her mirror speaks back to her, telling her to follow her passion—rapping—Shiloh realizes that she does have talent, and she finally embraces and celebrates what her voice can do. In colorful, textured illustrations that combine European-esque, fairy-tale castles with an otherwise African-inspired aesthetic, Shiloh’s kingdom appears to exist outside of time: Diverse Black royalty use both futuristic and old-fashioned transportation, for instance. The text is composed in rhyming lyrics, which readers may stumble over when reading aloud, as the cadence and rhythm are inconsistent and unclear. True hip-hop heads may balk at this simplistic presentation of rap divorced from its roots as social commentary, but many children will enjoy this energetic fable and the unique cultural style on its pages.

Hit or miss, but the Black princess is definitely great to see.