Linas Alsenas

"Princess Jane" leads a life of royal seclusion in her "high tower" castle (AKA, high-rise apartment) in this picture-book from author/artist Linas Alsenas. She studies, has tea parties with her "ladies in waiting" (AKA dolls), and endures the incursions of the "Toad" (her brother). She resists all efforts on the "Queen's" part to get her to enjoy the local "pleasure ground" (AKA park). When she is finally forced to engage with the "lords and ladies" (AKA other children) there, the game of tag in which she becomes involved doesn't go well at first. Then "Princess Jane of 8th Street" is befriended by "Princess Samantha of 10th Street," and all ends happily...

Despite its imaginative story-telling structure, in which a common childhood problem - namely, feeling shy and inexperienced, when playing with other children, and not being sure how to properly socialize - is cast in fairy-tale "princess" terms, I didn't enjoy The Princess of 8th Street that much. I found the eponymous heroine rather unpleasant - she seemed more spoiled than anything else - and her interactions with her brother, although realistic, were rather mean-spirited, and unrelieved by any sense of underlying sibling love. The artwork, moreover, was a little too cartoon-like for me, feeling rather flat and unappealing. I feel that the recent Pilar's Worries, by Victoria M. Sanchez, is a better picture-book examination of social anxiety, while the popular Fancy Nancy series is preferable, if one is going for feisty girls with "sparkle."… (meer)