The Birthday Ball Book

Princess Patricia Priscilla is BORED! It's hard to decide which is worse, having so very little to do at present or knowing that in just a few days her 16th birthday will arrive, bringing with it the Birthday Ball and her suitors, a change but not exactly a welcome one. The princess decides to borrow her maid's clothing and escape into the peasant world for a little while to attend class at the school house for a few days. There, she meets the kindly (no matter how stern he tries to make himself for the role) schoolmaster, who also happens to be rather young and handsome. She also befriends the village school children and begins to understand the hard realities of the peasant life and wonders what she could do to make it a little easier. So, when the Birthday Ball comes around, will it be "Pat" (as she calls herself at the school) or Princess Patricia Priscilla who takes center stage?

I enjoyed many things about this fairytale. I like how the princess takes matters into her own hands, and speaks with her parents about the things she observes and changes she would like to make. I appreciate that one of the main connections she has with the handsome schoolmaster is that of knowledge and of being kind to others. Her maid, Tess, is just so fun and adorable! I love her spunk. And I appreciated how the king was not completely stodgy and bad, and he had done many good things, yet was also just a bit too set in his ways and too self-absorbed to know at first what is best for his daughter, no matter how much he loves her. I also thought the cat was very cute, and liked how the princess always said things that rhymed with the cat's name, "That is very suspicious, Delicious!" ;-)

Yet, I was also uncomfortable with some elements of the story. While I know they were supposed to be humorous, I just didn't find the suitors amusing and found them rather sad, instead. Conjoined twins? A depressed duke? Not exactly something I want to laugh about (though the ending was very sweet). And the neighboring kingdoms' names... Dyspepsia was amusing enough, especially given the suitor's personality. But naming a kingdom after a very worrisome medical condition (Bulimia) just didn't tickle my funny bone.

All in all, this was an enjoyable story. I wasn't sure at first if the princess was supposed to be spoiled (perhaps that is just the way the audiobook narrator read her, though) but as it progressed, I liked her more and more. I appreciated that the ending wasn't completely implausible, maintaining some semblance of what was expected by the royal laws but also allowing for the (long-forseen) happy ending. And, of course, younger readers might not guess all the "surprises" along the way like I did ;-)

ETA: One of my friends said that the illustrations really enhance this story, so I missed out on that with the audiobook narration (though I thought the narrator did a good job) and will try to check out the book from the library to see the illustrations.