written and illustrated
by
M. M. Kaye
published: March 18th 2002 by Puffin (first published 1980)
details: Paperback, 128 pages
isbn: 0142300853 (isbn 13: 9780142300855)
About the Book
(Good Reads)
Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to every one's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!
About the Author
(Good Reads)
M. M. Kaye was born in India and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there. Her family ties with the country are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the British Raj. After India's independence, her husband, Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (the famous Indian Army regiment featured in The Far Pavilions), joined the British Army and for the next nineteen years M. M. Kaye followed the drum to Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Germany.
M. M. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. In March 2003, M. M. Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her "contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar".
My thoughts:
I discovered The Ordinary Princess quite by accident. Challenge #1 in Jenners "Take Another Chance Challenge" challenges us to find a book written by an author with the same name. I typed "Kaye" into the kindle book search bar and after looking through the books I selected The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye. I was glad I did. After reading the forward by the author I was completely captivated.
"This story was written many moons ago under an apple tree in an orchard in Kent, which is one of England's prettiest counties . . . I had read at least twenty of the [fairy tales] when I noticed something that had never struck me before--I suppose because I had always taken it for granted. All the princesses, apart from such rare exceptions as Snow White, were blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful, with lovely figures and complexions and extravagantly long hair. This struck me as most unfair, and suddenly I began to wonder just how many handsome young princes would have asked a king for the hand of his daughter if that daughter had happened to be gawky, snub-nosed, and freckled, with shortish mouse-colored hair? None, I suspected. They would all have been of chasing after some lissome Royal Highness with large blue eyes and yards of golden hair and probably nothing whatever between her ears! It was in that moment that a story about a princess who turned out to be ordinary jumped into my mind, and the very next morning I took my pencil box and a large rough-notebook down to the orchard and, having settled myself under an apple tree in full bloom, began to write . . . the day was warm and windless and without a cloud in the sky. A perfect day and a perfect place to write a fairy story."
This story is based somewhat loosely on Sleeping Beauty (she was princess Amy's great grandmother after all). Princess Amy is the 7th daughter of King Huldebrand and Queen Rhodemsia. And in typical fairy tale fashion the fairies are invited to the princesses christening. The Sea Fairy Crustacea who was late, feeling grumpy tired and rather dried out from getting stuck in a traffic jam, bestowed upon the princess the gift of being "ordinary". And thus the story begins.
When Princess Amy was young her nurse would sing her a lullaby:
Lavender's blue,
Rosemary's green,
When you are King
I shall be Queen
The book is divided into four parts, each bearing as title one line from the rhyme in consecutive order. I thought this was very creative and the rhyme followed Amy through her ordinary adventures all the way through the book. It was a delightful fairy tale that should be read to all girls over and over to remind them that even ordinary girls are very special.
Challenge #1, Read you doppleganger
Book #1
Book #15
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