"Princess Pigtoria was very poor.
Her palace had peeling paint and collapsing plaster.
She planted pansies and petunias. She swept
and she polished."
I expect you can hear where we are going with this new version of The Princess and the Pea. This isn't the first alliterative book that Pamela Edwards has written and again, I am intrigued and entertained by the word choices made to retell this old fairy tale and make it new. I ofen used her books as mentor books when working with older students and writing process. It would be interesting to speak with this author about her own process as she goes about finding the words that she will need to tell an old tale with a single sound in mind.
Being a list maker, I wonder if she lists adverbs, verbs, adjectives, etc and then uses that list as she composes her story. Does she write the story first, and then edit using words that have the chosen sound? In reading it aloud, I found my tongue tripping over the text, and hoping that no one was sitting too close to me. My kindergarteners would have been quick to complain about the 'spitting'! The audience enjoyed the telling and that's what counts during 'I Love to Read' month.
Great fun to share, with illustrations that extend the experience and have readers (and listeners) 'poring over the pages' while 'pondering the presence of a perfectly promising princess' in the 'palace of a petty parody of a prince'. Pul-ease!!!
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