Quality Rating: 5 out of 5
"She winked at the prince, who fell for her fast.
No matter what Mom does, I'll marry this lass!" ( Elya 6)
Summary:
This picture book is a clever twist on Hans Christian Anderson's The Princess and the Pea. The rhyming text is a combination of both Spanish and English vocabulary. A girl comes along and instantly catches the prince's eyes. He is sure that she is the one for him but his mother disagrees. The queen has a secret test to determine if the girl is princess material, but the prince has a plan as well. Readers become enchanted by this Latinx variation of a classic story through the language and vibrant images that capture the culture of Peru, Elya's native country.
Ideas presented in the text that Defy Common Stereotypes:
1. Matriarchies are a valid form of leadership within a society.
Living in a patriarchal society (run by men), when some people think of a ruler they almost automatically think of a male, the king. Many are programmed through their experiences to think that men should be the leaders and rulers within the society.However, women are just capable of ruling a group of people as men. Some might even argue to say that matriarchies are more capable of ruling than patriarchies. Elya's picture book only depicts the queen and her son. There is no mention of the king anywhere within the book. She makes the decisions regarding her son's future marriage, not a king. The prince may take over as ruler for his mother in the future, but the picture book doesn't indicate that this will happen anytime soon.
For more information on Peruvian matriarchies, here are some important links:
Hunt, Sarah. "Women of the Incan Empire: Before and After the Conquest of Peru." Southern Adventist University Knowledge Exchange, Oct. 2016. https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=hist_studentresearch
Mineo, Liz. "Where Women Once Ruled." Harvard Gazette, July 2016. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/07/where-women-once-ruled/
Zorich, Zach. “A Wari Matriarchy?” Archaeology, vol. 67, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 27. EBSCOhost, https://web.a.ebscohost.com/scirc/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=51f76f1f-bf10-4aa0-a51e-ce0189fc0d25%40sdc-v-sessmgr02
Misconceptions I realized I was carrying:
1. Ruling families only have arranged marriages.
In Peru's history with Spanish conquistadors and other settlers coming to South America during the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many arranged marriages between ruling families. The purpose of these marriages was to preserve the socioeconomic status of both families or to create peace between the Spanish and Incan rulers. What I didn't know, and what Elya's picture book portrays, is that some ruling families had marriages based on love and connection between the couple. Men and women within the Incan Empire's ruling families, such as the prince in the book, could choose who they wanted to marry. Though the girl was not a princess until they married, she still had the ability to choose to say yes or no to the prince. She was not forced into the situation; her marrying the prince was of her own free will.
Hello! I enjoyed your response to this book! I think it is great to have a princess story where the women get to decide their own fate. As you said, I like how this book goes against the usual patriarchal society we tend to see in fairy tales, and I think this would be a great addition to my future library to show students that there are many different versions of the traditional fairy tales. This is defiantly something I would like to see more of in the classroom!
-Jenni Stegehuis
Hi i really enjoyed reading this version of the princess and the pea. This story is one i grew up reading, and this version is much better. This book takes fun imagery and an old story and brings it together to make a beautiful story against the matriarchy and embracing feminism and women leadership. I cannot wait to read this book to my future classroom.
Hello! I loved reading this new version of "The Princess and the Pea". I remembered reading that book when I was younger and thinking how funny it was. Sleeping with a pea under your bed? This new version was very interesting because from one of my English classes a lot of fantasy books have evil step mothers, but in this book the mother is brought to life through laughter and the love of her son. I also enjoyed your mention that there is no king, and that is important because many think of kingdoms as having kings. The prince is allowed to choose who he loves. The girl has the option to choose. This encourages a lot of individuality for…
Hello there! This was quite the interesting read both with the book and this article on it. The language in this book made it such a captivating read. I did not even know what a matriarchy was until I read this article. The developmental parts of this book with the plot and characters really enhanced the story. Not to mention the fun imagery! I think children would take really well to this book and I could have some fun teaching this especially to a diverse class.
Arianna Koster.
Hi!
I really enjoyed your response to this book. This story is definitely one I would have in my future classroom! I enjoy the aspect of this book that expand children's (and adult) minds outside of the box that most of us have grown up in. Seeing books such as these, that go beyond the power being in the hands of kings (men), are something we need more of especially within the classroom. Showing our girls that we are just as capable to be anything we dream of in this world!
-Emily Dean