The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

Bored. Bored. Bored. No, not you, the princess in this story.

Bored as she may be, your reader likely won’t be as this is an engaging little parody of a fairy tale.

The princess-who-has-everything is not a spoiled brat. She is simply a bored royal who deals with the ho-hum by trading outfits with her maid and posing as a peasant. She attends the village school for awhile.

But party plans have been brewing back-at-the-palace. She is slated to meet her suitors and pick one. Which is a bummer since she is more interested in her new teacher.

The princess does invite all the village to her birthday. This includes the unsuspecting teacher, who does not know his new student, Pat, is the local royal.

I almost, but not quite, could give a 3-flag go-for-it rating. One thing to know: in a hyperbolic characterization of the appalling suitors lined up for the Princess, the conjoined counts (Siamese twins) are over-the-top in immaturity. In a humorous display of their vulgar lack of charm, they have an obsession with potty-talk. No 4-letters words other than fart and poop. But in what is (at least for an adult) the funniest part of their description, they banter about the humor of going to a ball, as in balls, as in… OK, it’s just an allusion, but (not butt), you see where it goes. Young girls might not get the joke. I hope. I mean, I really don’t want my young girl tweens talking about balls in that sense, so I can’t say it’s the best idea to be laughing about it. Now you know…

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