The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea was written by Lauren Child and illustrated by Lauren Child and Polly Borland. It was published by Puffin Books in 2006. It is a fantasy book and is appropriate for all elementary levels.
This is a story with a familiar title. Underneath the title it says “After the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.” The story line is much the same as Anderson’s old fairytale, but Child’s own use of language comes into play. The story is of a prince whose parents are ready for him to be married. The prince, however, is looking for the right girl who he can fall in love with, which does not prove to be an easy task. The prince meets all the princesses in the land and does not find any of them mesmerizing or fascinating, which are his two requirements in a future wife. One night a princess from the other side of the mountain wanders onto the royal family’s side of the mountain and gets caught in an awful storm in the middle of the night. She knocks on the Prince’s door and the King and Queen take her in for the night. The queen keeps asking her questions to check if she is a real princess and finally decides to test her to find out. She puts a pea under 12 mattresses for the girl to sleep on, because if she is indeed a real princess she will be able to feel the pea and not be able to sleep comfortably even on 12 mattresses. In the morning the princess is black and blue and very tired because she had not gotten any sleep. The prince is instantly mesmerized with her and the queen is satisfied that she is a true princess. The Prince and the Princess are married and just like all fairy tales, live happily ever after.
I really liked this story, because as much as it was a fairy tale it also came out of the fairy tale to include some of Lauren herself. Every now and then she would add a phrase like, “you know how princesses are” or “that’s the thing about kings.” This story could best be used for the art lessons that could come out of the beautiful illustrations and the interesting set up of the illustrations. Child created story box creations of her scenes and then Polly Borland photographed them to bring them to life. This could be used to show children different art styles and to encourage them to experiment with art and see what they come up with. Giving students freedom to express themselves is huge in elementary school. This book would be a great tool in accelerating that idea.
Here is a link to Lauren Child's website. There is more about her artwork and other works there. http://www.milkmonitor.com