The Knight Who Took All Day

This is a very funny, clever book about a macho knight who wants to win the hand of a fair princess... Except that the princess is completely disinterested in him, or in his macho ways. When a dragon finally shows up and menaces the kingdom, the vain knight dithers about and wastes time trying to dress up fancy so he'll impress the Princess. So she takes matters into her own hands and he saves the day, taming the dragon instead of killing him (which is what the knight wanted to do...) It's an explicitly feminist fairy tale, and also pro-dragon, which is a nice change of pace. Lots of visual humor, too, long with the charming text. Recommended!

My daughter and I really enjoyed this book. The message that working toward your goals rather than just trying to look good is a good one. It's too bad that the "prize" is a woman, although I guess you could say that it's also recognition for a job well done. But overall the book is fun and shows you that you don't have to be a knight or other high-ranking figure to go after and achieve what you want.

Good book, my 5-year-old and 7-year-old children both liked it and asked for it several times. Great moral, too -- appearance isn't everything.