THE TOUGH PRINCESS

Another modern fairy tale about an assertive female, achiever, in this case leavened with the sort of ebullient good humor that sensibly whisks problems away as fast as they arise. The king and queen, an inept pair whose mismanagement has landed them in a leaky caravan home, are disappointed when their child turns out to be a girl, but ""'Never mind,' said the King, '. . .I will annoy a bad fairy and get the Princess into trouble. Then a handsome prince will rescue her. . .' "" But competent bad fairies are rare, and after cheerfully swatting the worst he can find, Rosamund sets off on her bicycle for a brief series of adventures, concluding with waking an enchanted prince with whom she lives happily ever after. So tongue-in-cheek as to be a parody of its genre, this is satisfactorily amusing, although the outcome is somewhat at odds with the feminist repartee. Benson's color-washed drawings are vigorous and comic, attractively accented with areas of crisp black. His tall Rosamund would be a suitable companion to Pippi Longstocking. A jolly romp, this should be useful either as picture book or young reader.