Whiskerella (Hamster Princess Series #5)

by Ursula Vernon

Overview

A funny, feminist twist on the Cinderella fairy tale for fans of fractured fairy tales

Princess Harriet Hamsterbone is not the kind of princess who enjoys fancy dresses or extravagant parties. Cliff-diving, fractions, and whacking people with swords are more her thing. So when she's forced to attend a boring ball in honor of a visiting ambassador, Harriet is less than thrilled--until a bewitchingly beautiful stranger arrives. Who is she? And where did she come from? The mystery leads to a not-so-wicked stepsister, an incontinent lizard, and a fairy's spell that's really more of a curse. Luckily, Harriet knows a thing or two about curses...

Smart, funny, and filled with swashbuckling adventure, book five in the critically acclaimed Hamster Princess series is a hilariously re-told fairy tale for the modern age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399186578
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/23/2018
Series:	Hamster Princess Series , #5
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	867,447
File size:	44 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ursula Vernon is a full-time author and illustrator whose work has won a Hugo Award and been nominated for an Eisner. She loves birding, gardening, and spunky heroines, and thinks she would make a terrible princess. Ursula lives with her husband in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

An Indie Next List selection

* "Readers will have a ball with this hilarious, charming story." —Kirkus, starred review

"Harriet, who charges through this adventure with her usual aplomb, shows no sign of slowing down." —Booklist

"VBoth series fans and newcomers with a taste for snark will devour this one. Multiple copies are a must." — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2018
Gr 3–6—Harriet the hamster princess faces her greatest tribulation yet: a fancy masquerade ball. She'd rather be slaying Ogrecats or fighting giants than wearing elegant gowns and dancing with dull, clumsy princes, but the party gets a boost with the arrival of the lovely Whiskerella, who exits right before midnight, leaving behind several disappointed suitors. Curious Harriet and her friends Wilson and Ratpunzel investigate only to discover a fairy godmother hell-bent on obtaining Whiskerella a happy-ever-after ending at all costs. Like previous titles in the series, this cheerfully irreverent "Cinderella" spoof hilariously deconstructs fairy-tale tropes ("And who falls in love with somebody because of their shoe size?!"). The humor turns delightfully silly at times, too, with plenty of bathroom jokes. The depiction of female characters is thoughtful: though take-charge Harriet, who eschews stereotypically feminine traits, is the star of the show, gentle Ratpunzel gets her due as well. Whimsical illustrations break up the action-packed narrative and add a comic book—like flair. VERDICT Both series fans and newcomers with a taste for snark will devour this one. Multiple copies are a must.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2017-10-10
Hamster princess Harriet is back in Vernon's take on "Cinderella."Twelve-year-old Harriet has zero interest in marriage, especially when most princes she knows aren't particularly pleasant, but her optimistic mother has other ideas; the queen thinks that a masked ball would liberate Harriet from her intimidating reputation. But it's a reputation Harriet is proud of, and the queen's idea of a masked ball sadly doesn't allow for Harriet's costume ideas, like Genghis Prawn, "unstoppable leader of the lobster horde." Instead, the belle of the ball is a gorgeous, mysterious newcomer wearing glass shoes. While everyone else is enchanted, Harriet, concerned about how easy it was for an uninvited intruder to waltz right in, schemes to learn the mysterious hamster's secret. She learns that Ella (or Whiskerella) is stuck attending balls until she's swept off her feet by a prince. Ella finds the princes just as odious as Harriet does—and the shoes are painful—but her wishes are less important than the "happily ever after" that the fairy godmouse insists she have, as "Everry little girrrl drrreams of marrrying a prrrince!" The wild struggle to prevent the unwanted happily-ever-after includes razor-sharp takedowns of Cinderella tropes, stampeding quails, and a running gag about a lizard with bladder troubles. After all the silliness, it ends on a surprisingly beautiful note.Readers will have a ball with this hilarious, charming story. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews