• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3

Princess Alicia has everything she needs and more. A splendid castle, mountains of desserts, and loving parents who do everything possible to ensure she is happy. But even with all of that, Alicia is bored. Terribly bored. So what will it take to finally make her happy?

The Princess Who Had Almost Everything is an enchanting tale that reminds readers of all ages that happiness is not always where you seek it, but instead can be found in the most unlikeliest places.

MIREILLE LEVERT, diplômée en Arts visuels de l’UQÀM, travaille en littérature jeunesse. Elle écrit et illustre ses propres textes. Elle a remporté deux fois le prix du Gouverneur général du Canada pour ses illustrations. Avec Quand j’écris avec mon cœur elle choisit une nouvelle voie, la poésie pour l’écriture et l’élaboration de ses illustrations. Pour elle désormais chaque jour est un poème qu’elle reçoit avec ses yeux, ses oreilles et son cœur. L’album est finaliste au prix du Gouverneur général du Canada et au prix TD. Elle vit à Montréal, Québec, et aime partager avec les enfants la joie de créer en mots et en images.

 

Mireille Levert's profile page

For as long as she can remember, Josée Masse has always spent her free time drawing. Her father was a painter and there are many memories of her spending time with him at his studio. After studying graphic arts in Montreal, she was a graphic designer for 3 years before starting a career in illustration. She enjoys illustrating children's books as much as designing images for magazines and advertising. Josée now lives near Montreal where she spends her creative hours in her workshop.

Josée Masse's profile page

The Princess Who Had Almost Everything

reviewed from advance copy

Princess Alicia has everything: her own castle with a roller coaster, a maze with its own train, all the shoes and all the desserts her heart desires. But no matter how she is entertained she still cries: “I’m bored!” Using traditional fairy tale tropes of repetition and exaggeration, Mireille Levert presents a new fairy tale reminiscent of the classics: a petulant princess, a search for a prince, and finally the perfect, surprising gift that opens her eyes and heart.

Levert is mostly know for her illustrations – especially those in the award-winning Jeremiah and Mrs. Ming series – but this picture book shows her talent for writing, too. Her descriptions build in detail – from the hill, to the castle on the hill, to the princess inside the castle on the hill – which encourages emphatic reading aloud.

Like the text’s combination of new and old, Josée Masse’s illustrations are a mix of old and new in the vein of traditional fairy tale art. Blue and white silhouettes begin and end the tale, reminiscent of Arthur Rackham’s black and white silhouettes. The majority of illustrations are rendered in scrumptious pastel colours and employ interesting perspectives to convey the scope of Princess Alicia’s “everything.”

This picture book is sure to be relished by those who are familiar with the fairy tale genre and those just being introduced to it, complete with gentle fairy tale moral, delicate illustrations, and magical language.

The Princess Who Had Almost Everything

Princess Alicia has everything she needs and more, but she is terribly bored. What will it take to make her happy? This enchanting tale reminds readers that happiness is not always where they seek it, but instead can be found in the most unlikely places.