Princess Pigtoria and the Pea (review)

Princess Pigtoria's palace "looks like a pigsty," so when she reads an ad in the paper advertising for "a proper princess to become the bride of Prince Proudfoot of Porksville," she sees the proferred post as a source of home-improvement funding and heads to Porksville to apply for the engagement. Having missed dinner, Pigtoria orders pizza and ends up having a raucous little gathering in her guest quarters that evening along with various household staffers and Percy-the-Pizza-Pig. She then sleeps very poorly, not because of the pea the prince has placed under the mattresses (which, as it turns out, fell out anyway) but because of pizza, popcorn, and pie crumbs all over her sheets. The following morning, the prince is delighted to hear of her discomfort, Pigtoria is shocked to hear of his test, and Percy-the-Pizza-Pig (who is hiding in the pantry) is tickled to hear that Pigtoria prefers him. This is a rollicking alternative take on "The Princess and the Pea" as well as an alliterative homage to words that start with P; while a seemingly silly device for a picture book, the repeated consonant gimmick actually works to great (if possibly spitty) effect, providing a playful vehicle for telling the tale. Line-and-watercolor illustrations are broadly cartoony and loudly colored, but they provide appropriate whimsy and brightness to the story; facial compositions are particularly effective in providing characterization, and there is abundant humor in the many details (a drooping Pigtoria in a fluffy pink bathroom leans against the kitchen wall after her rough night's sleep, gripping a cup of steaming hot coffee). This will be a lively readaloud for a wide audience range as well as providing heaps of curricular use, from phonics lessons to units on fractured fairy tales.