Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50379 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Synopsis
For the christening party of the Her Serene and Royal Highness Princess Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne (known as Amy) two hundred and twenty cooks made marzipan trees, great ships of sugar candy, and a cake decorated with hundreds of sugar bells and crystallised roses - so tall they had to stand on silver stepladders to ice it. All the princess's seven godfathers and seventeen godmothers arrived with fabulous presents - except the last fairy godmother, Crustacea, who was caught in a traffic jam and was late and very cross. Perhaps that was why she gave Amy a curious gift. "You shall be Ordinary!" cried the most important fairy godmother. But the Ordinary Princess grew up to have the most extraordinary adventures...

Customer Reviews

Some things are worth repeating
When I was a child, this was one of my favourite books and having reread it recently with my young nephew, I can remember why. It's almost PC the way Princess Amy can't abide by her parents wishes to be locked up in some tower while Dad hires out for a dragon and perhaps a Prince to come and slay the beast. Why any girl in her position seems to have no choice except to run away. And so the Princess does. She escapes into the forest and is quite happy there with her various woodland friends. That is until the practicalities of her wardrobe and some very sensible advice from her fairy godmother mean that she needs to seek out some form of gainful employment. So she ends up working as a kitchenmaid and she does meet a Prince, eventually. I fell in love with this book all over again! There is a lesson in this book somewhere, possibly more than one but it escapes me at the moment. I just find it a very enjoyable read, even now. Princess Amy is most certainly a patch above the rest and as you'll soon discover, there is nothing ordinary about her perserverence in the face of a typical fairytale ending.

My favourite book as a child
No matter what she does, Princess Amy (christened Amethyst) cannot be as perfect as her six older sisters, each one more perfect than then next. This is because at her christening, a disgruntled fairy cursed her with being Ordinary.

So when her parents resort to dragons and rewards in their attempt to get this very ordinary girl married off, she runs away to the forest to be friends with the woodland creatures who accept her for who she is.

And she finds that being ordinary is not such a curse after all - I don't want to give away how!

What I loved about this book was all the descriptions - all the jewels and velvets of court life, the banquets, the woodland creatures and comforts. And they are a delightful foil for the ordinariness (yes I know it's not a word) of Amy - she comes across as even more real and down-to-earth because of her fairytale surroundings.

There are plenty of ridiculous characters for humour too, in case you think this is a bit worthy.

This book is a beautiful fairy story for those who've outgrown the traditional ones - and I still enjoy reading it!

Definitely five stars!

All I want for Christmas...
After reading an article in the TES, I have just come online to see if it's really true...that after too many long years of waiting, The Ordinary Princess has finally been reprinted. Whooo hoooo!

Every page in this book is filled with memories of my childhood - how many other little girls make believe they're an ordinary princess too, especially when they have a wood to run through behind their house, just like Amy.

My well-read and battered copy can now have a well deserved rest as I place an order for my new copy. I'll also be ordering a copy for my children. If there are any females in your family, young or old, make this a magical Christmas and get them a copy - much better than fluffy slippers :- )