The Birthday Ball

Gr 5—7—Princess Patricia Pricilla finds her royal life quite boring in this enjoyable tale (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) by Lois Lowry. The kingdom is preparing for her upcoming birthday ball where she will turn 16 and, according to the law of the domain, must find a suitor to marry. The only problem is that she finds each of her suitors extremely repulsive. To discover meaning in her life and to get away from the birthday preparations, the princess escapes to the village school where she disguises herself as a peasant girl and meets the handsome school master. Narrator Elissa Steele mimics the princess's boredom, and her narration appropriately escalates as the tensions rise among the family in the quest for a suitor. Using a tenor voice for the king, Steele is able to complement his easily distracted personality. She also captures the hard-of-hearing queen with her high-pitched shouting as she misinterprets what others say, which makes for quite a laugh. The soprano vocalizations of the a cappella singing of the kitchen maids and serving girls add a nice component to the narration. A charming and entertaining listen for tweens who enjoy tales about princesses and the quest for Mr. Right.—Janet Weber, Tigard Public Library, OR