The Princess's Blankets

By Carol Ann Duffy

Book Overview

"A princess lived, once, who was always cold. Even when the bright sun was at its hottest, she never felt warm."

A young princess who can never feel warm. A worried king and queen. A stranger in black with hard gray eyes. A musician with a kind and good heart. Carol Ann Duffy's powerful new fairy tale explores the depths of human fears, frailty, and love, complemented by a series of beautiful, atmospheric paintings by acclaimed artist Catherine Hyde. Compelling, lyrical, magical -- this is the tale of The Princess's Blankets.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763645478
• ISBN13: 9780763645472
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Templar Books
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 10.2" x 12.6"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Excellent! Not your usual princess story

This is about as far away as you can get from a Disney princess story, both in text and in art. Carol Ann Duffy selects her words carefully (she's Britain's poet laureate, after all) and creates vivid images of a princess who can't get warm and what follows. She is not passive and her will is strong, resisting the magical blankets put on her by a man whose looks she doesn't like. In the end, she is won over by music, coming from the flute of a man passing by. And to correct the School Library Journal review above, she doesn't marry the musician. "The musician only asked to stay always by the princess's side, and the princess agreed." And now the art -- it's not what you usually see in children's books. Beautiful, textured, almost abstract at times, it adds to the story without competing with the words.