My second grader brought this book home
and I admit, I groaned and thought, “Glahhh, another modern twist on an old fairy tale. Oh gosheroodie, I wonder if we will learn that being a princess is all about following your heart and being true to yourself? Or perhaps she will be liberated from patriarchonormative concepts of worth, and end up finding fulfillment in some nontypical career that doesn’t involve pretty dresses?”
Well, we didn’t, and she wasn’t! I won’t give away the plot of The Princess and the Pig, but I really liked this book. It’s a cute little switched-at-birth story involving an underappreciated baby and a very average pig, and everybody ends up getting more or less what they deserve. Funny, brisk, and satisfying, and shouldn’t be overshadowed in the glut of princess and anti-princess books out there. The illustrations were more interesting than the cover suggests, too.
The author, Jonathan Emmett, also wrote Ruby, In Her Own Time
which my husband and I both found unexpectedly moving. It’s just about some parents who are worried about one of their ducklings, but it turns out she’s okay, just kind of weird.
Please, note, neither one of these books is a message delivery product disguised as a story. 
They’re just good stories that happen to reflect something true. Isn’t it funny how we snicker at Victorians for their bizarre, finger-wagging ways, but it’s harder and harder to find a 21st century children’s book that doesn’t have a very clear lesson you can sum up in one sentence (and it’s usually something both lame and false).
Now for the reminder! The links above all have my special Amazon code embedded in them; which means if you buy these books, or any other Amazon product (book or otherwise) after getting to Amazon through one of my links, I will get a percentage of the profit. Of course, I only recommend books or products that I actually think are good.
If you are doing some Christmas shopping through Amazon, please consider using my link! I have a permanent Amazon link on the right sidebar, under where it says
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I know some people are finding it hard to spot, so here is a screenshot of it. I am working on getting a flashier ad, but in the mean time, here is what I’ve got:
Thanks!
