The Birthday Ball

by Lois Lowry Narrated by Elissa Steele

Overview

Bored, bored, bored. It's all Princess Patricia Priscilla can think as her sixteenth birthday approaches. It's less than a week before the Birthday Ball, where she will choose her husband from a group of unappealing suitors.

Boring.

But things around the kingdom get pretty interesting when Princess Patricia Priscilla disguises herself as a peasant and starts attending the village school. She may not be spending her days in the comfort of the castle, clothed in silk, but at least life in the village is fun. It doesn't hurt that the new schoolmaster is young and handsome.

In this tale of mistaken identity, creamed pigeons, and young love, the two-time Newbery Medal winner Lois Lowry compares princesses to peasants and finds them to be exactly the same in all the important ways.

Editorial Reviews

Krystyna Poray Goddu

This is a lighthearted concoction overflowing with wordplay and alliteration…Lowry's mastery of character is very much in evidence here. She offers succinct biographies of each lord, lady and peasant child, no matter how minor his or her role in the story. Feiffer's brisk and angular line drawings, meanwhile, fill in emotion and action…Those attracted to the silly and the gross…should find the tale satisfying.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Lowry uses her knack for cleverly turning familiar stories on their heads (last seen in The Willoughbys) in this tale about a princess who's utterly bored with privileged palace life. With her 16th birthday and her mandatory choice of a husband fast approaching (at least she gets a choice, unlike most fairy tale princesses in her situation), Princess Patricia Priscilla hatches a plan to pose as a student at the village schoolhouse for a taste of freedom before her big day, when she will be expected to choose a suitor. Readers will quickly see why the top contenders—Prince Percival of Pustula, Duke Desmond of Dyspepsia, and the conjoined Counts of Coagulatia are still “eligible” bachelors—and will have no trouble guessing her best match. Throughout, Feiffer's wiry ink illustrations paint the characters in offhand caricatures, adding to the merriment. Employing elements from the “Prince and the Pauper” as well as ample doses of humor and slapstick, Lowry sets the stage for a rowdy denouement. The emphasis never strays from the predictable or silly, but fans won't mind. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Kirkus Reviews

A very bored princess opts for change in this droll take on the Cinderella story. Five days before her 16th Birthday Ball, at which she's expected to choose her future husband, Princess Patricia Priscilla borrows her chambermaid's homespun dress, braids her curls and sheds her shoes to escape the palace and masquerade as peasant girl "Pat" in the village school. She quickly develops a crush on the handsome-but-poor young schoolmaster. Meanwhile, her wealthy noble suitors, the repellant Duke of Dyspepsia, the narcissistic Prince of Pustula and the disgusting conjoint Counts of Coagulatia prepare to attend the ball and win the princess. Faced with such totally repulsive choices, the proactive princess invites the whole village to her ball and upsets royal protocol in the best possible way. In her clever fairy-tale reconstruction, Lowry transforms the traditional princess into a refreshingly egalitarian heroine with a mind of her own. The hilarious, original and truly loathsome suitors are aptly memorialized in Feiffer's spritely black-and-white caricature illustrations. Guaranteed to generate giggles and guffaws. (Fairy tale. 8-12).

From the Publisher

"Lowry, who has often turned to new genres and made them her own, now freely adopts certain conventions of the romantic fairy tale to create a fresh story buoyed by wry wit and occasional schoolyard humor. The many idiosyncratic characters are drawn with swift, sure strokes in both the writing and in Feiffer's inimitable ink drawings, notable for their economy and assurance of line as well as their pitch-perfect expression of personality, attitude, and emotion. An original fairy tale with a decidedly comical twist."  —Booklist, starred review "Lowry uses her knack for cleverly turning familiar stories on their heads (last seen in The Willoughbys) in this tale about a princess who's utterly bored with privileged palace life...Throughout, Feiffer's wiry ink illustrations paint the characters in offhand caricatures, adding to the merriment. Employing elements from the "Prince and the Pauper" as well as ample doses of humor and slapstick, Lowry sets the stage for a rowdy denouement."  —Publishers Weekly "This is a captivating but gentle fairy tale with memorable characters and wonderfully swirly, evocative, energetic character sketches by the fabulous Feiffer."  —School Library Journal "In her clever fairy-tale reconstruction, Lowry transforms the traditional princess into a refreshingly egalitarian heroine with a mind of her own. The hilarious, original and truly loathsome suitors are aptly memorialized in Feiffer’s spritely black-and-white caricature illustrations. Guaranteed to generate giggles and guffaws."  —Kirkus Reviews "A lighthearted concoction overflowing with wordplay and alliteration. . . . [Readers] will laugh themselves silly."  —New York Times Book Review "Lowry draws on wicked humor, sly wordplay and stock characters to propel this pleasantly predictable romp . . .[she] again proves her range."  —San Francisco Chronicle "Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry and acclaimed illustrator Jules Feiffer throw one not-to-be-missed party with The Birthday Ball."  —Family Fun Magazine "Feiffer's frenetic lines and distinctive caricatures maintain the offbeat tone while adding a charming quirkiness in their own right. Youngsters who like thier fair share of mischief will get a kick out of this fractured fairy tale either on their own or as a readaloud."  —The Bulletin "Happiness radiates out from the Birthday Ball, zings down to the village and up again. A great story when read aloud."  —Chicago Tribune —

School Library Journal

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

FEBRUARY 2011 - AudioFile

As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Princess Patricia Priscilla escapes her boring existence by taking her chambermaid’s place at the village school. While the castle is abuzz with preparations for the ball at which three “repulsive rulers” will present themselves as suitors, “Pat” experiences the delights of learning delivered by the new schoolmaster. Elissa Steele’s regal voice is a wonderful fit for Lowry’s engaging tale. Her enunciation has the clarity of a gemstone, and she trills Lowry’s droll alliteration and repetitions with ease. (How many rhyming adjectives are there for Delicious the cat?) Steele’s deliberate pacing lets the delights of Lowry’s language shine. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169352016
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	11/09/2010
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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