Princess Katrina and the Hair Charmer

To everyone else, Princess Katrina is the perfect princess, kind, helpful and hard working but secretly her self-image is somewhat negative and her mop of thick, recalcitrant curls is at the root of it. On hearing of her feelings, Katrina's soul mate, Fussfeathers her parrot, offers rhyming words of wisdom, but to no avail. So, he decides to call upon the help of the 'Great Hair Charmer from across the sea'. The stunning Zuri duly appears and sets to work transforming the princess's locks. But, the most important transformation of all is one Katrina needs to make within herself: her hair already has its own magic, all she needs is to use the power of her imagination together with some patience: her locks can be all the crowning glory she'll ever need. A longish text offering much to think about, particularly on the theme of image - perceived and received; at first seemingly, Katrina breaks all the princess stereotypes (she is a rare black princess!) but then we learn she still concerns herself with traditional princess images. The illustrations glow with vibrant carnival colours and the colour combinations verge on the psychedelic at times. Coloured backgrounds are used for the text too and where the words are superimposed on a multi-coloured background this does not make for easy reading. For me at any rate, the earthy hues used for some of the pages work the best. An arresting book and certainly a story well worth sharing and discussing both with older infants and juniors.