Friday, January 15, 2016

Book Review :: A Royal Easter Story (The Princess Parables) by Jeanna Young and Jacqueline Johnson, illustrated by Omar Aranda

A Royal Easter Story is a new book in The Princess Parables series. This is a hard cover book that has a dust jacket featuring glittered accents.

A Royal Easter Story follows the 5 princesses (Joy, Hope, Grace, Faith, and Charity) as they race to get to their destination while the kingdom is preparing for the annual Easter Jubilee. 
The target audience for A Royal Easter Story is children ages 4-8, but the wording is not as simple as you might find in a story for children this age. (Not necessarily a bad thing, just different.) 

Although it does reference Easter and Jesus multiple times, the "Easter" portion of the story really seems to be more in the background, with the "race to the finish" portion of the story taking center stage. 

I liked that in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the princesses stop to pray and ask God for help. This is a great example and reminder for the little ones who will be enjoying this story to stop and pray. 

There were several things in the story that seemed out of place or forced, such as the words "ASK", "SEEK", and "KNOCKED" being capitalized in the text. Even if it is a Bible reference, it just seemed out of place. Also, the statement by the king that "everyone who is lost can be found on Easter" (in reference to an actual child who had been separated from their family) seemed odd to me. 

Although the intention of A Royal Easter Story is good, enough of the concepts seemed forced or out of place to me that this unfortunately isn't one of my top choices as far as storybooks go. That said, any princess-loving girl will probably be able to enjoy this book again and again. 
FTC Declaration: The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy. This does not change the fact that I will give my honest opinion in my reviews.

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