Princesses DO wear black

There are some books that I can't wait to share with my kids. Most of them are not appropriate yet so I just have to wait but as Charlotte says "It's hard to wait."

So when I heard that Shannon Hale was coming out with a picture book, I was so excited! I've been a huge fan since I read Princess Academy and I've read almost everything she's published since.

On her blog she wrote:
"I took inspiration from The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She'd be a seemingly typical princess with a secret. She'd secretly be a superhero, working hard to keep her kingdom free of monsters. And like Superman needs Clark Kent, the Princess in Black would maintain a secret identity. To all the world, she is Princess Magnolia. But when trouble calls, she sheds her fluffy dresses and glass slippers, dons a black mask, leaps onto her valiant pony, and rides off to save the day!"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Superman?? SOLD!

As I read on, I knew I had to get this book for Charlotte AND Henry. Princesses can certainly wear black, but boys should also be allowed encouraged to read about princesses. Well, read about anything really! If girls can read about trucks and trains and construction sites, why shouldn't boys read about princesses and unicorns?

(Seriously though, you must read her blog entry about this book.)

Turned out, Shannon and her husband had written this book together and they were both coming to a local, independent bookstore near us! I told my husband we HAD to go!!

So yesterday, with both kids in tow, we went. (In hindsight, probably not the best idea. Henry was a terror.) I was giddy on the way there. And then when I saw that they were waiting around, perusing, I very awkwardly said hello to Shannon and babbled something about how I loved her books. Thankfully, she was very nice and I stopped talking.

Shannon and her husband Dean are obviously a great team. And maybe a little competitive.

They gave a lively introduction of the book and even read part of it. Each spread has full color illustrations that are adorable. The words are easy enough for little ones to understand but not babyish that a 1st or 2nd grader would be embarrassed to be seen with.

Charlotte tried hard to be patient but couldn't wait to read it.

We finally got to read it last night before bed but I don't know if we lived up to the performance these guys did. (When's the last time you saw an author dress up for their reading??)

I love that I got to share this with my daughter. She did get restless during the Q&A portion but considering she's 2 1/2, I was happy that she sat still and was attentive for the first half hour. I can't take credit for that though. It really is because Shannon and Dean Hale were so entertaining!

This is only the first of many future events like this. I can't wait!!

I know you shouldn't compare your kids but it's hard not to do. Charlotte started sitting through books fairly early. Henry, on the other hand, figured out how to crawl and then didn't want to sit still. He would get his cuddle and then he was off. You can imagine what this does to a crazy, Asian mother. Alarms started going off in my head. What if he doesn't like books? What if he grows up to be someone who doesn't like to read for fun??

Fortunately, I married someone who just laughs at my crazy instead of being bothered by it. Luke tried to interest him in books about trucks, dogs, the usual things that boys like. Nope. Books with photographs instead of illustrations. Nope. Then he tried books that have different textures. That did it! He was hooked!
 
At first, he only wanted books with different textures. Fuzzy bunny books, furry puppies, shiney, scaley fish. Fortunately, we had some of those but this one is different and probably my favorite.

It's by Xavier Deneux and he has several other books like this one. What's so clever about these is that each page has a cutout that fits into the facing page. I had originally gotten this for Charlotte since she had recently learned to count to 10. It seemed like a fun way to practice counting with her. Turns out, it's a fun book for her younger brother to explore too.