★ 01/16/2017
Legions of schoolchildren will empathize with overscheduled Princess Cora, whose well-meaning but misguided royal parents insist that a regimen of boring reading, mindless exercise, and frequent bathing is the only way to ensure that she’ll be fit to inherit the throne. After they refuse her a dog, Cora channels her simmering anger into a letter to her fairy godmother, which she then rips up—a toothless act of rebellion that Schlitz (The Hired Girl) infuses with magic: “Because it was a letter to her fairy godmother, every scrap turned into a white butterfly and flew away.” Cora’s godmother gets the message, delivering a pet the monarchs justly deserve: a crocodile with an outsize id and none of Cora’s impulse to please. In illustrations that amplify Schlitz’s wry humor, Caldecott Medalist Floca (Locomotive) produces a reptile that delightfully runs amuck. A mop wig and frilly dress let princess and croc to swap places, allowing Cora much-needed freedom while the crocodile trades insults with the Queen (“Reptile!” “Mammal!”) and gnaws on the fitness-obsessed King (just a little). Utterly charming from start to finish. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management. (Mar.)
The Newbery medalist (for “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!”) Laura Amy Schlitz’s witty writing matches perfectly with the energetic watercolors by Brian Floca, who won the Caldecott Medal for “Locomotive.” I dare you not to laugh at the pink-frocked reptile desperately trying to jump rope.
—The New York Times Book Review
An accomplished storyteller who knows her audience, Schlitz offers an original tale that seamlessly combines reality, magic, and wit. Floca’s expressive pencil, watercolor, and gouache artwork perfectly captures the characters...this early chapter book is beautifully designed for newly independent readers. For younger children, it’s a memorable choice for reading aloud in the home or classroom. Either way, it’s great fun.
—Booklist (starred review)
Legions of schoolchildren will empathize with overscheduled Princess Cora...In illustrations that amplify Schlitz’s wry humor, Caldecott Medalist Floca (Locomotive) produces a reptile that delightfully runs amuck. A mop wig and frilly dress let princess and croc to swap places, allowing Cora much-needed freedom while the crocodile trades insults with the Queen (“Reptile!” “Mammal!”) and gnaws on the fitness-obsessed King (just a little). Utterly charming from start to finish.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Schlitz’s narrative is incredibly entertaining, with chapters that alternate between chaos at the castle and Cora’s meandering day in the woods and pastures. Featuring Floca’s hysterical full-color artwork, the book is laugh-out-loud funny...The fable is reminiscent of the finest adult-comeuppance collaborations of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, with the added bonus that the princess learns to speak up for herself and the grown-ups learn to listen.
—School Library Journal (starred review)
Seven spry chapters detail Cora’s much-needed day off and the crocodile’s humorous attempts to impersonate her. Copious ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are both delicate in their sensibility (the way princesses often are in classic tales) and witty in their execution (i.e., the crocodile is very poorly disguised).
—Horn Book
The crocodile's antics are juxtaposed against Cora's pastoral day and enhanced by Floca's ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations, which superbly amplify the story's emotional arc. All ends happily...A clever tale packed with wry wit and charming illustrations.
—Kirkus Reviews
Floca’s crocodile achieves sly, good-natured ferocity tempered by the delicacy of the ink, watercolor and gouache illustrations, and the humans are just as serious and glum as they should be until Cora asserts her independence. Although divided into chapters, this standout original fairy tale can be devoured in one sitting, making it an excellent overall choice for early readers or a family readaloud.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Readers ages 5-10 will cheer when, with the grown-ups humbled, Cora stands up for herself at last and insists on fewer baths, better books, jollier exercise—and, in place of the crocodile, a dog of her own.
—The Wall Street Journal
Hilarious art in Victorian Era style shows the crocodile cross-dress as Cora, carry on in her place (she’s off to play in the dirt) and shake up the parents, all for an important point: Princess or not, it’s worth the struggle to be yourself and make your own choices.
—San Francisco Chronicle
A Newbery Medalist (“Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!”) and a Caldecott Medalist (“Locomotive”) team up for a very entertaining feminist fairy tale of a princess who rebels against her overbearing parents in rather novel ways.
—Buffalo News
Readers will find it hard to not love this inappropriate crocodile and his Princess owner.
—School Library Connection
Timely and incisive, this one's a keeper.
—BookPage
The Dahl-esque story has a classic feel, and Floca's art blends wit and beauty. A perfect read-aloud — though adults will need a sense of humor.
—Plain Dealer
Whether you’re a Cora or a crocodile or a little bit of both, you’re bound to stand in wonder when you see what Schlitz and Floca have come up with together.
—A Fuse #8 Production (blog)
★ 01/01/2017
Gr 1–4—Little Cora is an old-fashioned princess with a decidedly contemporary problem: her well-meaning parents have overscheduled her with improving experiences, and she just wants a day off. Failing at her less than assertive attempts to convince the adults of her castle to give her a break, she calls on her fairy godmother for assistance. The help comes in the form of a gigantic crocodile who dons Cora's frilly pink dress and takes her place in the princess's daily routine of excessive bath taking, spreadsheet review, and calisthenics in the dungeon-turned-gym. Schlitz's narrative is incredibly entertaining, with chapters that alternate between chaos at the castle and Cora's meandering day in the woods and pastures. Featuring Floca's hysterical full-color artwork, the book is laugh-out-loud funny. The crocodile's expressive, snaggle-toothed face and extreme body language clearly convey his frustration with Cora's required activities, and his eventual shutdown of each oblivious adult is a bored child's dream come true. The fable is reminiscent of the finest adult-comeuppance collaborations of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, with the added bonus that the princess learns to speak up for herself and the grown-ups learn to listen. The book's trim size and artwork will appeal to fans of Kate DiCamillo's "Mercy Watson" series, and the elegant prose reads aloud beautifully. VERDICT This delightful illustrated chapter book is a first purchase for all elementary schools and public libraries.—Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT
2016-12-14
Princess Cora, tired of her young life as a queen-in-training, asks her fairy godmother for a pet—with unexpected results.When Princess Cora was born, the King and Queen (both white, like their daughter) exclaim over her perfection. But the realization that Cora will someday be queen turns their delight into an obsessive diligence in training Cora in dull topics punctuated by tedious exercise. Add the three-baths-a-day regime that her nanny (also white) insists on, and Cora is now one unhappy princess. Denied a pet dog, Cora writes an appeal to her fairy godmother, and the next morning finds a box at the foot of her bed containing a large crocodile. Schlitz's dry humor is on gleeful display as the crocodile, switching places with Cora (so she can have a day off), evens the score on her behalf with the King, Queen, and nanny. The crocodile's antics are juxtaposed against Cora's pastoral day and enhanced by Floca's ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations, which superbly amplify the story's emotional arc. All ends happily. And the crocodile? He may or may not be living in the lily pond, but Princess Cora tosses in cream puffs (the croc's favorite thing besides chewing on people) whenever she walks her new pet dog, just in case he is. A clever tale packed with wry wit and charming illustrations. (Illustrated fantasy. 6-9)
