Princess Bess Gets Dressed

I got this book for my 3 year old granddaughter. The book itself is a large format hardcover that is well-made with thick pages. It will probably last for years to come. The story is a whimsical account set to verse that chronicles a day in the life of busy little Princess Bess. As Princess Bess encounters different social occasions throughout the day, she must wear different (appropriate) outfits for the occasion. As the day winds down, Princess Bess finds that her favorite outfit is really her underwear. The book adds some vocabulary and other concepts that are interesting to a child of the recommended age. As with most of these kinds of books, the book provoked my granddaughter to ask a lot of questions, which is really what learning is all about. Like other reviewers who said it best, I think that Princess Bess should have ended up in her pajamas versus just underwear. Other than that little nitpick, it was a great book and my granddaughter enjoyed it!

My daughter instantly fell in love with this book. The cover sparkles and it's about a princess. We read it last night. She wanted it read over and over. This morning she brought it down with, so we could read it again. I was very surprised by size and quality of the book. It is a hardcover book with thick glossy pages and beautiful illustrations. The text is written in rhymes. Princess Bess and her many clothes made into a lovely, "girly" book. I think it is a must have for every wanna-be-princess.

Margery Cuyler's whimsical verse sets a perfect tone for this fast and fun picture book. My daughter (age 2 1/2) needed only to see a princess in a tutu doing ballet for this to be her new favorite. Heather Maione's skillful illustrations are an impeccable accompanyment to the merry journey through Princess Bess's wardrobe-intense day. Her princess-pitch-perfect palette and short, rolling lines perfectly mirror the tone of the text. Princess Bess Gets Dressed is that rare, fun, beautiful picture book that's such a gem when you find it. I hope it gets recognized by the ABA and ALA as the year rolls on - great candidate for some illustration awards at the end of the year. My only beef, and it's small, with this book is in the end when Princess Bess removes her last dress. The illustrations make it look like she takes off her pajamas, too, while the text talks about how she plops asleep in just her underwear. Since I have the nightly chore of convincing my toddler she needs her jammies on, having her new favorite book colorfully depict otherwise is really not helpful to the bedtime routine. But then, maybe that's just my issue.

When read for the first time, Princess Bess Gets Dressed had to be read several times. The drawings reminded all of us of Fancy Nancy, some of our very favorite books. Make her a princess too and both girls were over the moon. The rest of this review is based on their opinions of a 4-yr old and 2-yr old when asked directly what they liked. My four year old loved all the colorful, fancy dresses and Bess' dog. She liked that her dog gets dressed up too, especially in slippers and a tutu. She also liked the castle and her eating with the Queen. My two year old liked the colorful pictures and dresses and that Bess is a princess. She also mentioned, like the 4-yr old, the scene where Bess is eating with the Queen. They both liked the rhyming since they are learning about that right now ("dad, what rhymes with this and that?"). This book definitely had all their favorite things. The lesson Bess shows us is that at the end of the day, despite the fancy dresses, dancing lesson, lunch with royalty, etc. that Bess is just one of us and that her favorite thing is really to be away from it all and snuggle under her covers fast asleep. This book was a huge success and is now one of our favorites to be read over and over again. We hope you will like it too! [Edit Jan 28, 2010] Almost a year later this is book is still a common request for my girls as a bedtime story! This really is still one of their favorite books. They are into all things princess and it's nice to be able to read them something that's not Disney but still a princess book. They really love how at the end, Princess Bess becomes just a normal kid and flops into bed in her underwear just like the rest of us. That's by far their favorite part.