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Princess Justina Albertina: A Cautionary Tale
Ellen Dee Davidson
Illustrated by Michael Chesworth
Picture Book
Ages 5 to 7
Charlesbridge, 2007, 978-1-57091-652-6
  Princess Justina Albertina always likes to get her own way and when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants she kicks up the most awful fuss. In fact she makes such a fuss that she makes life for everyone around her utterly miserable – especially for her nanny.
  One day Justina Albertina decides that she wants a pet. So her nanny goes to the royal lagoon and catches the princess a fish but the princess quickly decides that this pet does not notice her enough. So, her nanny buys her a two-headed dog. This time the princess decides that what she really wants is a pet that she can ride. So her long-suffering nanny goes off to get her charge a unicorn. The princess makes the poor unicorn trot and canter and gallop but when the unicorn won’t jump the princess throws and fit and demands that she needs a pet that will listen to her.
  Again and again the poor nanny is sent out to get the princess a new pet until the day arrives when the horrid child demands that only an “exciting pet” will do. Nothing the nanny says will make the princess change her mind. This time however the princess might just have asked for one pet too many.
  With amusing illustrations and a memorable storyline, this a picture book which is sure to become a firm favorite. Children will find themselves laughing out loud all the way through the book as they follow the brave nanny’s adventures as she does her best to deal with her dreadful charge’s demands. They might find those laughs cut short however when they come to the very abrupt end and read the nanny’s last “Oh, dear.” Grownups will smile as their own young people scratch their heads and ask “are gryphons real and have I been naughty today?”
 

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