Once Upon and Ever After - Caroline L. Thornton - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Caroline L. Thornton
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: November 10, 2019
RATING: 4.25 stars.


All of us know how stereotypical princesses in traditional fairy tales are. All they have to do is to wait for their prince to come and rescue them. However, have we also thought about how stereotypical the poor prince's life is? All he is supposed to do is find a princess, "rescue" her and marry her.

Here comes a book where a prince learns that he doesn't need to live the life everyone expects him to. of course, he takes some time to realise this lesson. This prince has always been trained in sword fights and tower climbing and so on, all so that he might save a princess some day and get married to her. But when he makes his attempts at these rescues, he discovers that the princesses have already saved themselves with their brains and guts. He thus understands that he too can break the pattern and thereby discovers his own happily ever after, doing things he enjoys.

I quite enjoyed this book. It breaks away from hackneyed terrain not just for princesses but also for princes, and this isn't common in children's fiction. Many writers focus on shattering gender shackles for girls but ignore the same for boys.

The story is written in rhythmic prose and it works quite well. The vocabulary is fairly easy and there's a glossary at the end which would be very helpful to children.

The illustrations are outstanding and increase the fun element of the tale.

Heartily recommended to all little readers and their parents/schools/libraries.

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