Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose

K-Gr 2—In this rhyming story, a princess is lovely and fair, "with ruby red lips and a mane of brown hair...," but she has "gigantic feet." The princes she meets cannot look past them and see her for herself. Every night the princess's mother sings a rhyme to her daughter, ending with, "I don't want to be somebody else. No sir-ree!/ I am what I am and that's all right with me." Far away lives a prince who loves to laugh. He also happens to have a "nose like a barn," and when maidens look at his beak, they say, "oops, gotta run!" Predictably, the prince's father sings him the same rhyme that the princess's mother sings to her. One day the two young people meet. The princess "glided with ease down the slopes of the Alps. (She was not wearing skis)." At first, they keep their big nose and long feet hidden, but as they fall in love, they decide to reveal the truth to one another: "They laughed and they giggled, and then he proposed." Large pastel-colored illustrations completely fill the spreads. This predictable tale carries an obvious but nonetheless important message of self-acceptance.—Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH