Princess Penelope

Picture Book
Title: Princess Penelope
Author: Todd Mack
Illustrator: Julia Gran
Age Level: 4-8
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary


This book is about the lifestyle of a little girl named Penelope.  Penelope thinks that she is a princess and explains all the activities that she does in a day as a princess. Some of these things include wearing a crown, having servants cook and clean for her, eating fancy food, and riding on a chariot.

Opinion


I think that this book was used in a way to help children use their imagination while reading.  Many children like to pretend that they live in fairytale worlds and live the life of a princess or king so a book like this would be really relatable to some childrens interests.  Although the book allows children to use their imagination and creativity while reading, I wonder if texts like this will give some children the wrong idea about what a "desired" lifestyle should look like.  This book could paint a picture in the childs head that living the life of a princess is the best way to live and that is something that is unrealistic.  Aside from this, I do like the cartoon illustrations in this book and think that they are very vibrant, animated, and eye-catching.  They also take up most of the pages so the reader's eye is drawn in to analyze the pictures before reading the text and readers can then use prediction based off the pictures to tell what is going to happen next.  One problem I did find with the text in this book was that is is in cursive. Many children at young ages have trouble reading cursive so I do not think that it is used wisely here.  It does add to the "fancy" affect the book is trying to portray but when I read this to my child study student, who is 7, she had to stop after the first page because she was not able to read it.

I do not think that I would use this book within my classroom as a future teacher because I do not think that a meaningful message is being portrayed.  Although the book is a very appealing to read and allows the children to step out into a fantasy world, I do not see and educational purpose this book could be used for.