Princess Chamomile Gets Her Way

When I first saw the cover illustration of Princess Chamomile, my heart gave a little jump, because I thought perhaps Kevin Henkes had come out with another mouse book in the tradition of "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse." Closer inspection showed that the author and illustrator are not Henkes (Hiawyn Oram and Susan Varley, respectively), but it looked promising enough to be worth reading. Princess Chamomile's nanny is very restrictive: Chamomile must always wear her tiara and nice clothes; she can't ride her bike out of the castle grounds; "And Nanny Nettle never allowed Chamomile to eat sweets--not even at her own birthday parties!" (I don't know about you, but that last one would send me over the edge.) Princess Chamomile bicycles off and ends up being held for ransom by Bags-Eye the Bad Cat at his candy store. No worries, she's clever enough to send a message to her family, and all the mice learn a lesson about the joys of moderation. The detailed water color illustrations are quite well done. I particularly enjoyed the drawings of the castle: a topiary mouse here, a mouse-Cupid statue there. (For those of you who have seen any of Henkes' mouse books, the outlines in this book aren't as bold, the colors aren't as bright.) Overall, a pleasant book with a lot of good points. I didn't mind the parenting lesson that overprotectiveness can backfire (said the somewhat overprotective parent). And one can only hope that children absorb the message that too much of a good thing is, well, too much.