Princess Furball

I am five years old and I thought Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck was so good it should have gotten an award. One reason that I liked it was because it has very good pictures in it. It is about a princess that ran away from her home because her dad was going to make her marry an ogre! If you want to find out what happens, please read the story.

There are more than five hundred variations on the Cinderella story. This one has the most interesting "Cinderella" character that I know of. There's no fairy godmother, although there is an old nurse who teaches her all she needs to know "to be strong and capable and clever, besides being beautiful." Using her wits and skills, she escapes an arranged marriage to an ogre, and wins the love of a handsome prince. I think it's a much better message for little girls than some of the baggage that comes from the French version of Cinderella that most of us grew up on. And Anita Lobel's illustrations are unusual and charming.

This book is a variant of the story of Cinderella. In this book, the heroine doesn't rely on a fairy godmother to help her, she plans ahead and helps herself. This has been a favorite for my daughters and myself for years!

Princess Furball is a wonderful Cinderella story that is beautifully written. The illustrations delight children. I use this book when I teach a Fairy Tale unit to my 3rd graders. They enjoy comparing this book to other Cinderella tales. Princess Furball is always a class favorite.