Review by New York Times Review
THE idea of a collaboration between Lois Lowry and Jules Feiffer is exciting news. Lowry, twice winner of the Newbery Medal, is the author of dozens of much-loved works for children and young adults, from the popular "Anastasia Krupnik" series to the "Giver" trilogy, while Feiffer is a prize-winning cartoonist and playwright who has also written and illustrated numerous picture books and children's novels. With "The Birthday Ball," this illustrious pair tries something new for both: the comic fairy tale. This is a Lighthearted concoction overflowing with wordplay and alliteration (the main character is Princess Patricia Priscilla, and that's just the beginning). It features the barest sketch of a plot: A princess is about to turn 16 and must choose a husband from three unsuitable suitors (or four, depending how you count twins "joined at the middle"). A strong-minded, warm and intelligent girl, the princess is bored by the royal life and eager to explore the world beyond the palace. Two weeks before the birthday ball at which she must choose her mate, she exchanges clothes with her chambermaid and, disguised as a peasant, prances off to attend the village school, where the kind young schoolmaster takes a special interest in her. The suitors will especially appeal to readers of a certain age (probably 8 or 9). They will laugh themselves silly at the descriptions of the unbearably ugly Duke Desmond, who has teeth that are "mottled with decay and encrusted with plaque"; the vain Prince Percival, who soaks his valet with "gobs of spewing liquid" when he pronounces the letter "p" ; and the juvenile "conjoint counts," whose specialty is bathroom jokes. Lowry's mastery of character is very much in evidence here. She offers succinct biographies of each lord, lady and peasant child, no matter how minor his or her role in the story. Feiffer's brisk and angular line drawings, meanwhile, fill in emotion and action. The climactic birthday ball features a neat resolution to the characters' problems and includes a reunion of long-lost siblings that is downright Shakespearean. Well executed, with an endearing heroine and several equally appealing minor characters, "The Birthday Ball" nevertheless comes off as a bit slender. Lacking a significant crisis or conflict, it may disappoint fans of Lowry, who will look for more substance than she delivers here. Those attracted to the silly and the gross, however - and we shouldn't underestimate the size of that audience - should find the tale satisfying. Krystyna Poray Goddu's most recent book is "Dollmakers and Their Stories."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 20, 2010]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* On the Monday before her sixteenth birthday, Princess Patricia Priscilla, bored with palace life, dons her chambermaid's homespun dress, declares her appearance wonderfully rustic and primitive, and presents herself at the village schoolhouse as a new pupil. Over the next few days, she enjoys novel experiences, such as befriending an orphan and encountering a young schoolmaster, who demands she treat him with respect. Meanwhile, the king and queen have summoned several suitors, all unsuitable and each quite horrible, to the birthday ball on Saturday, when the princess must choose a husband. The neatly constructed plot unfolds swiftly, and plot twists bring a few surprises, but readers will primarily enjoy the humor and the assured storytelling here. Lowry, who has often turned to new genres and made them her own, now freely adopts certain conventions of the romantic fairy tale to create a fresh story buoyed by wry wit and occasional schoolyard humor. The many idiosyncratic characters are drawn with swift, sure strokes in both the writing and in Feiffer's inimitable ink drawings, notable for their economy and assurance of line as well as their pitch-perfect expression of personality, attitude, and emotion. An original fairy tale with a decidedly comical twist.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lowry uses her knack for cleverly turning familiar stories on their heads (last seen in The Willoughbys) in this tale about a princess who's utterly bored with privileged palace life. With her 16th birthday and her mandatory choice of a husband fast approaching (at least she gets a choice, unlike most fairy tale princesses in her situation), Princess Patricia Priscilla hatches a plan to pose as a student at the village schoolhouse for a taste of freedom before her big day, when she will be expected to choose a suitor. Readers will quickly see why the top contenders-Prince Percival of Pustula, Duke Desmond of Dyspepsia, and the conjoined Counts of Coagulatia are still "eligible" bachelors-and will have no trouble guessing her best match. Throughout, Feiffer's wiry ink illustrations paint the characters in offhand caricatures, adding to the merriment. Employing elements from the "Prince and the Pauper" as well as ample doses of humor and slapstick, Lowry sets the stage for a rowdy denouement. The emphasis never strays from the predictable or silly, but fans won't mind. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Princess Patricia Pricilla finds her royal life quite boring in this enjoyable tale (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) by Lois Lowry. The kingdom is preparing for her upcoming birthday ball where she will turn 16 and, according to the law of the domain, must find a suitor to marry. The only problem is that she finds each of her suitors extremely repulsive. To discover meaning in her life and to get away from the birthday preparations, the princess escapes to the village school where she disguises herself as a peasant girl and meets the handsome school master. Narrator Elissa Steele mimics the princess's boredom, and her narration appropriately escalates as the tensions rise among the family in the quest for a suitor. Using a tenor voice for the king, Steele is able to complement his easily distracted personality. She also captures the hard-of-hearing queen with her high-pitched shouting as she misinterprets what others say, which makes for quite a laugh. The soprano vocalizations of the a cappella singing of the kitchen maids and serving girls add a nice component to the narration. A charming and entertaining listen for tweens who enjoy tales about princesses and the quest for Mr. Right.-Janet Weber, Tigard Public Library, OR (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Pampered Princess Patricia Priscilla decides to pull a Paris Hilton and dabble in peasant life. Lowry's comic, breezy royalty-in-disguise tale has "Pat" -- her peasant moniker, since the shorter the name, the lower the social status -- switching outfits with her chambermaid and surreptitiously attending the village school. Meanwhile, the castle hums with plans for the princess's upcoming sixteenth birthday bash, during which she is expected to choose among three outrageously revolting suitors. (Four, actually. "One" is conjoined twins.) With wicked glee that carries over to Feiffer's animated ink drawings, Lowry builds caricatures of the horrible husband hopefuls. It's no surprise that Pat likes school and takes to her lessons the way plaque takes to suitor Duke Desmond's enormous rotting teeth. Can she escape an awful marriage and continue her schooling? Readers will have no trouble sticking with Pat to story's end to find out. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A very bored princess opts for change in this droll take on the Cinderella story. Five days before her 16th Birthday Ball, at which she's expected to choose her future husband, Princess Patricia Priscilla borrows her chambermaid's homespun dress, braids her curls and sheds her shoes to escape the palace and masquerade as peasant girl "Pat" in the village school. She quickly develops a crush on the handsome-but-poor young schoolmaster. Meanwhile, her wealthy noble suitors, the repellant Duke of Dyspepsia, the narcissistic Prince of Pustula and the disgusting conjoint Counts of Coagulatia prepare to attend the ball and win the princess. Faced with such totally repulsive choices, the proactive princess invites the whole village to her ball and upsets royal protocol in the best possible way. In her clever fairy-tale reconstruction, Lowry transforms the traditional princess into a refreshingly egalitarian heroine with a mind of her own. The hilarious, original and truly loathsome suitors are aptly memorialized in Feiffer's spritely black-and-white caricature illustrations. Guaranteed to generate giggles and guffaws. (Fairy tale. 8-12).]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
