Little Princess Tony Ross

HAHAHA to the 'Little Princess' books that always make us laugh.

We stumbled upon this series when we were watching BBC's channel 5 programs and Man! what a find! Ever since we have been squealing in delight on discovering  these books  in libraries or book shops here in Bangalore!

Tony Ross is the author/illustrator and here is a lovely write up about his other work (also illustrated the Horrid Henry series )

This adoringly impish princess is the main character of this book series; surrounded by grown ups of the royal household such as her parents- the king and queen, little brother, admiral, cook, nanny, prime - minister, and the doctor . Lovely illustrations;crazy illustrations- Little Princess wearing a saucepan on her head, the nose digger cook, a doctor with chicken pox , a delightful little girl with a crown---what's not to love and laugh!

Also, every 'Little Princess' story has some endearing thought attached. 

Take this book "I want to be" as an example. The cover has a lipstick smeared face and the story begins with her announcement of  " the time has come to grow up". The princess goes around asking "what is the best way to be?"

 "Kind like your father", suggests her mother; "Loving, like your mother", suggests her father; "Clean", says the cook standing in a filthy kitchen as he sticks a finger in his nose ; the prime minister, worried about his last piece of a puzzle says ``be clever''; and the doctor--covered with pox--advises her to "be healthy". Finally confused with all these replies she goes to her nanny who lovingly lifts her up in her arms and instructs her to " Be yourself"

At the end sitting on her potty she declares "I want to be tall" and in comes her little brother saying " You are already tall"!

Such giggles.

Princess Poppy

If you are a parent like me who cringes at anything related to Barbie but your kid is so into princesses and fairies and ends up looking at all sorts of books with a Barbie image on them then Princess Poppy is your answer!

These are a series of attractive books with great stories designed for a little girl reader and their Barbie hating moms!;))

Everything about the book will appeal to the 4-5 year old princesses who would love the dainty flowers, tiny golden stars, the little envelope with a note right in front, the colour scheme , the map of Honeypot Hill featuring in every book - everything!

All the characters have such kind faces and the focus is on the story and less on the dress/ hair/makeup or looks of  'Poppy' and her friends and Family. The stories are about friendship,  sharing, feelings, standing up for yourself -such lovely themes!
However, my favourite part is their tag line, "Every Little Girl is a Princess".

Here's a nice interview with the author, Janey Louise Jones : http://clubs-kids.scholastic.co.uk/clubs_content/2170
Veronica Vasylenko does  a fabulous job of illustrating the stories but seems to have got little mention of her work on the web.
Ah! Also! The Random House group has developed a nice website for your kid to tinker around after she is done with the reading. http://www.princesspoppy.com/