The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch Illustrated by Michael Martchenko

from goodreads

5 stars

One month until Christmas! And I am actually feeling pretty good about it. I have a handle on the presents that I am making myself. I feel confident that my kids aren't going to be sad come Christmas morning, and I won't be sad with more junk. I think it will be good. Now we just need to figure out where we are going to put our tree.

This will be our third Christmas in our house and each year we have had to change where we put the tree. Our first Christmas we only had three chairs in our living room. This meant it was pretty sparse and we cold put our tree wherever we wanted. Then the couches came so we had to move the tree from one corner to another. This year we brought in a piano so now that corner is no good. I am thinking of putting it right in the middle of our front window. I think it will look pretty from the inside and the outside as well. Now we just have to figure out when we are going to cut it down. Since we moved and have no carpet we have been going to a tree farm and cutting our own down. It has been so much fun. My husband was skeptical of the whole real tree thing, but I think we have made a convert out of him.

How is your Christmas looking with a month to go?

Synopsis

Princess Elizabeth has it all; a castle, an awesome wardrobe, and a handsome prince named Ronald. But all that changes when a dragon comes and smashes her castle burns her clothes and carries off Prince Ronald. What's a girl to do?

My Thoughts

This book is a classic. I loved it when I was a kid and I love it now. If you are looking for a strong female role model, Princess Elizabeth is it. She strategizes she is brave, and she can make a paper bag work, fashion-wise.

This book totally shows us that we need to make lemonade out of the lemons in our lives. It also shows us that sometimes we need to take stock of our life and be honest with ourselves. For Elizabeth it took the whole dragon thing for her to see Ronald in his true light. We don't have dragons to do that for us, but sometimes we to figure out how we can do that, even when we might not want to know the truth.

This book is great for kids. It isn't that deep and it isn't beating the kids over the head with morals. It is just fun. Here is the link to listen to the author read the story. Some find him annoying, but as a kid, I loved listening to him tell this story. To be honest, I still do.

The illustrations are awesome. I love Martchenko's work. He captures the the emotions of it so well. Love it.

Some of his books are crazy and not as good, but this book is stellar. If you read only one Munsch book this is the one you have to read. You will love it.