Princess Poppy: Friends Together; Princess Poppy: The Baby Twins

Two stories about a little girl called Poppy who lives in Honeypot Hill, a quaint rural setting where we find places such as Lavender Lake, Blossom Bakehouse and other local features with suitably flowery names. Poppy likes to think of herself as a princess and for any other reader who wants to be a princess like her, she offers a moral message in a tiny letter inside an envelope as you open the book. The moral messages of both titles may be ones that relate to the common experiences of young children – ambivalent feelings about sharing mum and dad with new babies, the complications around making new friends and feeling jealous. Unfortunately, both text and illustrations abound in white middle class stereotypes and set in some rural idyll (nothing wrong with the latter on occasion, granted). But I find the illustrations a little twee and wishy-washy (everybody has the same face) and the text equally quaint. The pastel colours, pale yellows, pinks and lilacs, will appeal especially to ‘little princesses’. The intention may be good but the execution is disappointing.