Prince for a Princess (review)

While it's not quite the romance the title suggests, it is love at first sight when seven-year-old Christina, affectionately called "Princess" by her parents, meets retired racing greyhound Prince. Thrilled by her new canine family member, Christina helps Prince adjust to domestic life, delighting in the opportunity to take him for walks ("There was something about the sight of a big dog and a small girl together that made people stop to chat") and let him sniff around in the way he never could while he was racing. The one downside is that Prince gets very lonely when his people go away—so enter Chancho, the rescue Chihuahua. There's no conflict in the story, and the viewpoint is largely that of the adults rather than Christina, distancing the child reader. The depiction of life with a beloved dog is endearing, though, and the short chapters (about three pages apiece) with accessible text provide a useful bridge between controlled vocabulary readers and longer chapter books as well as an effective readaloud opportunity. Each chapter sports a full-page monochromatic line and watercolor illustration, in a lively realistic style; Prince has a goofy sweetness, while the fact that Christina is dark-haired and Asian while her parents are fair and European suggests she might be adopted herself. This is a pretty effective advertisement for greyhound adoption, so readers' families should be ready for pleas to expand their own families by one speedy dog.