Shannon and Dean Hale (text) and LeUyen Pham (illustrator), The Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess, Candlewick Press, February 2021, 96 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781536209778
The Princess in Black is back and this time she is sailing the Lively Turnip with her two best friends, the Princess in Blankets, and the Goat Avenger. They’re looking for monsters, but instead meet Princess Posy, a real mermaid! But they soon learn, she is a princess in a pickle. Looking after her kingdom involves fixing lots of problems and on top of that, a trench has opened up in the seabed, where a greedy Kraken lives, and she worries she’ll never be able to stop him devouring her fellow sea creatures. Her new friends offer to help, but being unused to underwater battles, they’re not as successful as they are on land, however, just being there to support Princess Posy gives her the courage and advice she needs to deal with that Kraken.
Bright, bold and colourful, this is a fun, fast-paced story set in a rich underwater world, which LeUyen Pham perfectly brings to life in her illustrations. This is a rollicking joy, that will be gobbled up by newly independent readers.
Reviewed by Deborah Abela
