The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and LeUyen - ESSENTIAL

The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (The Princess in Black #10) by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, 90 pages. EARLY READER Candlewick. 2023. $15. 9781536209785 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

When Princess Magnolia heads to the Flower Festival at Princess Snapdragon's castle. She is surprised when an Emu arrives causing all sorts of trouble. It's aggressively kicking boxes and manages to break a special decoration brought by Princess Magnolia! Luckily, the Emu is vanquished by a Knight in Shining Armor. Princess Magnolia isn't used to being rescued, but she's very grateful to the knight. The Knight is Prince Valerian who was so excited to finally use his special talents, and as the Prince in Pink, he can help save the Flower Festival's ball! 

Hale and Pham have the most wonderful ideas! I love this series, and AJ is just now the perfect age to love it too. We like that the stories are unpredictable and the heroes are clever. The illustrations are so fun, we loved that the Prince in Pink wore a tiara and his catchword was flourish. It’s OK for boys to like sparkles, wear pink and be great at putting the finishing touches on things. Delightful! 

Lisa Librarian and AJ (age 7)

FYI:  Shannon Hale wrote a brilliant response to one of the one-star reviews of the book - one star because the reader didn't like the Prince in Pink. Here is the link to the ThreadReader version.