The Penguin and the Pea

Written and Illustrated by Janet Perlman
Kids Can Press, 2004
Ages 4-8
3.5/5

This picture book is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. However, in this version Perlman has recast all the characters as penguins. The Penguin Prince falls in love with a penguin who arrives at the castle during a storm and claims to be a real princess. The Queen is suspicious, so she places a pea underneath twenty mattresses and twenty quilts on the penguin maiden's bed. When the penguin admits the next day she was unable to sleep because of something hard in her bed, the Queen realizes she is indeed a real Penguin Princess. They all live "flappily" ever after.

Of course, the best thing about this book is the mostly anthropomorphized penguins. Although they have hair, wear robes and crowns, sing, dance, and make shadow puppets, the characters also wear "rainflippers", ask for a "fin in marriage", and bruise their flippers and break feathers when they fall. Instead of the classic descriptions of the princess's golden hair and blue eyes, we read the Penguin Princess is beautiful "from the gentle curve of her beak down to her delicately webbed feet". The humour that stems from the idea of penguins acting like humans is present ed through text and pictures that complement each other. This would definitely be a solid read-aloud selection, especially for younger school-aged children.

The Princess and the Pea has never been my favourite fairy tale. I guess I don't like the idea that the only way someone can be a real princess is if she is so delicate and fragile she will be bothered by a pea in her bed. Although my love of penguins made it impossible for me to not enjoy this version of The Princess and the Pea, I think I prefer Perlman's version of Cinderella, titled Cinderella and the Little Glass Flipper.