A little girl discovers her true identity
Dulcie Campbell knows she's a princess. The woman with old bunny slippers can't be her real mother. The man with scratchy whiskers isn't her real father. The boy who teases her isn't her real brother. And the dog who sniffs her isn't hers, either. Dulcie sets out to live the life she was born for. "Take a warm jacket!" calls the woman. "Don't forget your book!" calls the man. "I thought you said you were leaving!" shouts the boy. The dog drools. Off to the barn (the royal palace) goes Dulcie, where she perches on a bale of hay (her throne) to wait for things to right themselves. Then she opens her book of fairy tales and learns that the life of a princess isn't all that she's dreamed - and that the one she's been living may not be so bad after all.
Wry, funny, and utterly charming, Cynthia DeFelice's story is pictured to perfection by R. W. Alley.
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About the Author:
Cynthia DeFelice is the author of Casey in the Bath, illustrated by Chris L. Demarest. She lives in upstate New York.
R. W. Alley has illustrated over sixty books for children. He lives in Rhode Island.
From Publishers Weekly:
DeFelice (The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs) hits the mark with this tale of wishful identity, amiably chronicled in Alley's (Little Flower) warm portrait of a hardworking family. Dulcie lives on a farm but is convinced that she's really a princess named Dulcinea. As she mucks out the chicken coop, she fantasizes about her real mother [who] does not believe in broccoli and her real father [who] does not have manure stuck to his boots. Her parents wisely let her go off in search of her royal fate. Alley portrays the spunky heroine clutching a book when she s not in the farmyard a collection of princess stories. In the castle (her own barn) she discovers that, compared to the stories in her book (one princess is made to wear rags and sleep in the ashes, another is locked in a tower by a witch), her life might not be so bad after all. In a break with the book's otherwise realistic treatment and its only weak spot ogres and trolls threaten Dulcie, then disappear when she tells them she's not a princess. But the ending returns to the book's strength, a full-blooded family that welcomes her home. Author and artist present an appealing family, warts and all, and the brother's caustic remarks act as the perfect foil for the parent's expert handling of their daughter. Alley plays up the contrast between Dulcie's humble circumstances and the glittering life she wishes she led, yet makes clear that she lacks for nothing. A smartly told story with a gentle moral. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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