PINEAPPLE PRINCESS

“I am deeply, deeply misunderstood,” declares a child who plainly has really saintly parents.

Positive that they are actually a princess, a child sees nothing amiss in scribbling down the stairway wall with a crayon, harnessing their baby brother to pull a royal wagon, and ignoring instructions to clean their room—or, for that matter, wearing a sticky, hollowed-out pineapple top as a crown and inviting a growing swarm of buzzing flies (or “subjects”) to gather. Paired with a humorous declamatory monologue, Hahn’s appealing watercolor scenes follow a small, scowling, light-skinned child with an outsize gift for making fantastic messes, from garbage-strewn bedroom to a kitchen turned utterly topsy-turvy and then, perhaps at the strong, if unmentioned, invitation of an unseen parent, outdoors. Having wielded a fly swatter against some of their more rambunctious “subjects” and sensing rebellion in the ranks, the protagonist at last decides it’s time for an upgrade to a new and, readers will likely agree, more suitable role: warrior queen! (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A hilarious romp featuring a small wild thing with a big, big personality.