The Princess And The (Greedy) Pea by Leigh Hodgkinson

This is the story of a greedy pea who swallowed a sprout. And Slurped up some soup. And gobbled a cake … and so the text begins, in the style of There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, with the pea getting bigger and greedier following every part of the meal. It is also the story of a princess. A very grumpy princess who you might have encountered before in a fairytale. She cannot get to sleep.

Retellings of The Princess And The Pea fill the shelves and I love this book because it finds a new angle not only on the story but also on the form of the text. In doing so, it ramps up the humour. Young readers and their adults can sing along to the tune, or simply watch the pea swelling in size and grinning with delight as the feast is consumed. Anyone with a small child in their lives – or who has ever been one – can guess what rhymes with ‘slurping’ and it will guarantee laughs every time from a young readership.

The pea’s feast in only half the story. The princess enters, finds her feast eaten, and the pea – stuffed from all the food – takes himself off to a nice, cosy bed. That is where things get especially interesting. The princess, you see, goes to bed grumpy. She also goes to bed hungry. I don’t want to give any spoilers but I can promise an ending that will give rise to debate and guarantee the story is read over and over again.

This story demonstrates beautifully how old stories can be given a twist, and how the structure of a story or song might be used in to tell a similar but different tale. Due to it’s hilarious ending, it would also make a great book for introducing the concept of debate to younger children and it certainly promotes discussions that will help children develop confidence in stating their own views on an issue – think what do you think happened as a prompt but with children young enough to care very passionately one way or another about the issue.

The illustrations are bold and colourful and very skilled in adding character to the pea and princess. The style put me in mind of Mini Grey with big, bold colourful shapes contrasted with fine patterns and lots of curved shapes.

A delight of a book that brings humour and read-aloud-ness to a favourite fairytale.