THE DARING PRINCE DASHING

A daredevil prince meets his perfect Cinderella, and they begin a “most adventurous friendship.”

Bathing in the crocodile-filled moat and toasting marshmallows by dragon’s breath are par for the course for Prince Dashing. At the royal ice cream social, he meets a blonde who can keep up with his crazy antics—playing “Für Elise” with her toes while doing a backbend while the prince roller-blades across the top of the piano. But at the stroke of bedtime, she is gone, leaving behind only her pogo stick, which the prince calls a “stick-thingy.” The girl who can make the right sound with the stick—ZING-BOING!—will be the honored guest at the prince’s birthday party. But of course, the prince can’t do things the easy way; he will search for “Stickerella” blindfolded, which makes for lots of humorous mishaps and near misses. West’s brightly colored vignette and double-page-spread illustrations are full of funny details, especially the scenes in the zoo. Nicely, this fairy-tale heroine isn’t in need of saving—there’s no stepmother and no forced labor, though she does clean her own home.

For those kids who find nasty sisters, cleaning, and losing a shoe to be too tame, this is a daredevil alternative.