Johan TroianowskiBesprekingen

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: N/A
Score: Six out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

I never heard of The Runaway Princess until a few days ago, when I saw it in a public library shelf and picked it up. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing, although it's targeted at a younger audience. I picked it up and read it, and when I closed the final page, it was a unique reading experience.

First, The Runaway Princess is not one cohesive novel. It consists of three separate stories, cohesive by themselves but unrelated to each other, and incohesive when combined. They all start with the first person I see, Robin, escaping from her castle to go with her friends, other minor protagonists. I thought based on the blurb that The Runaway Princess would be about breaking stereotypical gender roles, but no. Instead, it's three long stories exploring this high or whimsical fantasy world meeting other characters and discovering new places as seen on the maps before every narrative begins. It gets repetitive over time but sometimes I get to interact with The Runaway Princess when it tells me to do certain actions or complete puzzles, which is a unique touch. The art is all in aesthetically pleasing watercolour, but the characters are only okay and lack depth, which is a shame because there are others in other compositions that don't. At least it was enjoyable.

I think this was a fun read and def one to get relcutant readers to to read it. I also liked thatyou got several mini adentures following these characters. It was a fun read but not a new favorite!!

I think this was a fun read and def one to get relcutant readers to to read it. I also liked thatyou got several mini adentures following these characters. It was a fun read but not a new favorite!!

Really unique, not like anything else I've seen lately. The kids will enjoy it.

In this graphic novel for young readers, Robin is a princess who is bored and just wants a little adventure in her life. She decides to run away from the kingdom and meets a group of children who are lost. There are three adventures in the book about Robin’s adventure and how she realizes that she is just as happy being back at the castle as having an adventure by herself. The illustrations are colorful and there are pages where the reader must complete a task to set Robin on the right path back to the castle. I would recommend this for any collection looking for stories that have reader participation and young readers will pick this one up to read.

Robin is a princess who is bored of being a princess. She doesn't want to sit home anymore and be quiet. She wants to have adventures. So she runs away from her home and travels through the magical landscape of her country. But her parents aren't happy about her adventures and are out to find her and bring her back.

The weird tone of this book won me over. It collects three adventures of Princess Robin of Seddenga (Rouge in the original French) as she deals with kidnappers, a witch, and pirates. It seems like it should be pretty standard kid stuff, but the tales unfold in a goofy, seat-of-the-pants manner and occasionally stop to invite readers to solve an activities page puzzle or move the book in a particular way. Quirkiness abounds: the moai statues of Easter Island show up and talk; the pirates, for no explained reason, sail on a full-sized ship in a bottle; King Croesus and the Gingerbread House make appearances. It's all odd, but enjoyable.

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn2lHdjxgrM

Enjoy!

Honestly not sure what to make of this one. I mean, it's lovely in its cheery bright colorfulness, but it's also Monty Python opening levels of weird and surreal. Early on, when the queen discovers her daughter has run off to visit a water carnival (which, by the way, is less about boats and more about men in bathtub balloons and fish flying through the air in flocks), the queen just...flies off to find her. Since no other characters had demonstrated the ability to FLY before that, I was rather caught by surprise.

The interactivity of the book is interesting, though. Goes over well in picture books, but I'm not sure some of that will translate to independent reading.

Discovered browsing at the Cambridge Public Library.

Three stories
Bright colors
Fanciful/fantasy