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Summary
Summary
A funny, feminist twist on the Cinderella fairy tale for fans of fractured fairy tales
Princess Harriet Hamsterbone is not the kind of princess who enjoys fancy dresses or extravagant parties. Cliff-diving, fractions, and whacking people with swords are more her thing. So when she's forced to attend a boring ball in honor of a visiting ambassador, Harriet is less than thrilled--until a bewitchingly beautiful stranger arrives. Who is she? And where did she come from? The mystery leads to a not-so-wicked stepsister, an incontinent lizard, and a fairy's spell that's really more of a curse. Luckily, Harriet knows a thing or two about curses...
Smart, funny, and filled with swashbuckling adventure, book five in the critically acclaimed Hamster Princess series is a hilariously re-told fairy tale for the modern age.
Author Notes
Ursula Vernon is a freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She received an undergraduate degree in anthropology at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She took several art classes in college. Her first children's book, Nurk: The Strange Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew, was published in 2008. Her other works include Black Dogs: The House of Diamond and the Dragonbreath series. She also writes and illustrates the webcomic Digger and the creator of The Biting Pear of Salamanca.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Harriet the hamster princess faces her greatest tribulation yet: a fancy masquerade ball. She'd rather be slaying Ogrecats or fighting giants than wearing elegant gowns and dancing with dull, clumsy princes, but the party gets a boost with the arrival of the lovely Whiskerella, who exits right before midnight, leaving behind several disappointed suitors. Curious Harriet and her friends Wilson and Ratpunzel investigate only to discover a fairy godmother hell-bent on obtaining Whiskerella a happy-ever-after ending at all costs. Like previous titles in the series, this cheerfully irreverent "Cinderella" spoof hilariously deconstructs fairy-tale tropes ("And who falls in love with somebody because of their shoe size?!"). The humor turns delightfully silly at times, too, with plenty of bathroom jokes. The depiction of female characters is thoughtful: though take-charge Harriet, who eschews stereotypically feminine traits, is the star of the show, gentle Ratpunzel gets her due as well. Whimsical illustrations break up the action-packed narrative and add a comic book-like flair. VERDICT Both series fans and newcomers with a taste for snark will devour this one. Multiple copies are a must.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Hamster Princess Harriet is forced to attend a ball--in a dress!--and gets pulled into a mystery involving a hamster in glass shoes (Whiskerella). A rodent-girl in a bright red hood asks Harriet for help with weasel-wolves lurking around her grandmother's cottage (Little Red). Vernon's fifth and sixth trippy fairy-tale takeoffs use humor, quick pacing, occasional comic bookstyle panels, and snappy dialogue to engage young and struggling readers. [Review covers these titles: Hamster Princess: Little Red Rodent Hood and Hamster Princess: Whiskerella.] (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hamster princess Harriet is back in Vernon's take on "Cinderella."Twelve-year-old Harriet has zero interest in marriage, especially when most princes she knows aren't particularly pleasant, but her optimistic mother has other ideas; the queen thinks that a masked ball would liberate Harriet from her intimidating reputation. But it's a reputation Harriet is proud of, and the queen's idea of a masked ball sadly doesn't allow for Harriet's costume ideas, like Genghis Prawn, "unstoppable leader of the lobster horde." Instead, the belle of the ball is a gorgeous, mysterious newcomer wearing glass shoes. While everyone else is enchanted, Harriet, concerned about how easy it was for an uninvited intruder to waltz right in, schemes to learn the mysterious hamster's secret. She learns that Ella (or Whiskerella) is stuck attending balls until she's swept off her feet by a prince. Ella finds the princes just as odious as Harriet doesand the shoes are painfulbut her wishes are less important than the "happily ever after" that the fairy godmouse insists she have, as "Everry little girrrl drrreams of marrrying a prrrince!" The wild struggle to prevent the unwanted happily-ever-after includes razor-sharp takedowns of Cinderella tropes, stampeding quails, and a running gag about a lizard with bladder troubles. After all the silliness, it ends on a surprisingly beautiful note.Readers will have a ball with this hilarious, charming story. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 7-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
If there's one thing that life with Princess Harriet Hamsterbone isn't, that's boring, and this fifth series installment finds the plucky, cliff-diving royal rodent up to her usual high jinks. She's been strong-armed into attending a ball her parents are throwing for the visiting bat ambassador. Though Harriet would prefer to get to know the ambassador by dangling upside down from the ceiling with him, she reluctantly dons a ballgown and a mask and attends the party, where a mysterious, beautiful stranger with an odd choice of footwear shows up and steals the hearts of every prince in attendance. Harriet, who has never cared much for princes to begin with, follows the girl she's dubbed Whiskerella home and discovers she's been spelled by a fairy godmother and the spell may be more of a curse. Good thing Harriet's got some experience with those. The familiar cartoon panels and brassy banter are on display in this twisted-up Cinderella story, and Harriet, who charges through this adventure with her usual aplomb, shows no sign of slowing down.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2018 Booklist
