Picture Book Review – Prince Charmless – Jeanne Willis (Author) & Tony Ross (Illustrator)
Recommended for – Toddlers, Younger Readers
From the front cover, it’s easy to confuse this with a Little Princess story – it’s illustrated
by Tony Ross, who writes those stories, and it’s about a young member of the
royal family, but this is actually by legendary children’s author Jeanne
Willis, and it’s well worth checking out if you like the Little Princess stories.
Prince Charmless has never been satisfied – he always wants
something more, demanding change from morning to night, until one day everybody
gets fed up and leaves him to his own devices. Can the spoilt brat of a Prince
learn that sometimes doing things himself can give him everything he wants?
I’ve always like a story where you can sum up the moral at
the end to your children (without being too preachy of course), and this is a
great example – the Prince is horrible until being forced to do things himself
and learning that if he makes the effort himself then he won’t have to rely on
other people who might get it wrong. The quirky illustrations of Tony Ross help
to illustrate both Prince Charmless’ ire and satisfaction perfectly, just as
they do in the Little Princess
stories, and clearly Willis and Ross are perfectly suited to work together.
Another great story from two giants of the picture book
genre.
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