The Princess and the Christmas Rescue

PreS-Gr 2—In a wintery land in the far north, Princess Eliza is forbidden to play in the dangerous wild, so she keeps herself busy creating Rube Goldberg—type inventions. Her parents think the hobby isn't very "princess-y" and send her off to make a friend instead. Eventually Eliza finds a houseful of overwhelmed elves who are facing a Christmas backlog with flu-ridden Santa. Soon the clever princess has created a "speed-reading thing," a "robotic gift-picking contraption," and a "neat wind-up gift-wrapping machine." Santa is happy, the newly modified sleigh makes quick work of gift giving, and Eliza tells Santa that all she wants is a friend. "'Oh, Princess,' said Santa. 'I think you will find/you've made lots of friends just by being so kind." Her parents sell off some art and jewels to build Eliza a workshop, where she and her new elf friends play and improve Christmas "with kindness and skill." Bright mixed-media illustrations have a cartoonish charm and humorous details to enliven the leaden rhymed couplets of the girl-power princess story.