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My Enjoyment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Daisy Daughter rating: B+
Group rating: B+
Book Source: Public library
Princess Patricia Priscilla is bored with her pampered life, so she switches places with her housemaid, Tess. After swapping her finery for a drab brown dress and kicking off her shoes, “Pat” embarks on a day as a village school girl. “Pat” also is avoiding her dreaded “Birthday Ball” where she must choose a suitor between three ghastly prospects. Luckily, this fairy tale doesn’t turn out in the predictable manner, thanks to an orphan, a handsome school master, and a plucky princess.
This was our final Mother/Daughter book club selection for the school year. Even though we only had 3 pairs of mothers/daughters (I think everyone is in “summer” mode already) – it was one of our better discussions. The girls shrieked over the descriptions of the nasty intendeds – an ogre who had never seen his face in a mirror, a gigolo with a bad case of dandruff, and a pair of potty-talking conjoined twins. We had an interesting discussion about what is “beautiful” and appearances can be deceptive. We also compared this book to The Willougbys – the other Lois Lowry book we read this year and loved. The girls could definitely see the similarities with the other book, but liked The Willougbys better. As a mom, I LOVED Ms. Lowry’s use of vocabulary – she is brilliant in weaving words like haberdashery, adroitly, galoomph -- into her narrative and making them seem accessible to an emerging reader. Her use of satire and humor is also particularly appealing to both adult and tween, alike.
Last year we TRIED to meet over the summer months, and everyone’s schedules were so hectic, it never happened. So we all agreed that we would take a hiatus over the summer.
But I am proud to say…that we have completed our second full year as a mother/daughter book club!
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