The Big Princess

In this companion to The Tiny King with a welcome adoption-story aspect, a childless king finds a bug-size princess. His and the queen's love for her grows daily--as does the princess. How to stop her from outgrowing the castle (and the family)? Digital collages feature improbably harmonizing elements: geometric shapes coexist with realistic imagery, and characters with Hello Kitty–like blank faces live out emotional scenes.

In this companion to The Tiny King (rev. 11/13), a childless king dreams that a bird tells him he’ll find a princess in the prized castle garden the next morning. The catch: “The princess is under a spell…If you are able to break this spell, the princess will become your true daughter.” And if the king can’t? “Then your kingdom will fall to ruins and be lost forever.” Sure enough, the next morning the king finds a bug-size princess in the garden. His and the queen’s love for her grows daily, as, worrisomely, does the princess. How to stop her from physically outgrowing the castle (and hence the family)? When she is finally moved to the castle’s tallest tower (Miura employs a skyscraper-like gatefold to fine visual effect), the king sees, through a tower window, a seed stuck in her navel; its extraction -- his fatherly devotion, really -- breaks the spell, and three lives are ever-after lived happily. As he did in The Tiny King (which takes place at a later time, when the big princess is queen), Miura presents a sweetie-pie monarch whose yearning for a family drives the plot. But The Big Princess has a welcome adoption-story aspect. At book’s end, the child -- “still a little bigger than the average princess” -- doesn’t match her parents, who unblinkingly accept her. Miura’s digital collages feature improbably harmonizing elements: brightly colored, blocky geometric shapes coexist with realistic imagery, and characters whose faces seem to assume Hello Kitty-like blankness live out sometimes emotional scenes. nell beram