The Prince and the Pee

Chris Mould’s quirky illustrations certainly bring this cautionary tale startlingly to life: go before you go! There is a perfect match between text and pictures here, ensuring Prince Freddie is the key character, along with sidekicks Sir Rushington, (his horse,) a terrible dragon, and the Castle Crumble. An introduction of traditional tale characters will also delight young readers. Whilst Prince Freddie enjoys his lemonade and comic whilst sunbathing on the beach, Sir Rushington brings him a frantic message that a terrible dragon is attacking Castle Crumbly. Slurping down the last drop of his lemonade, Prince F. leaps on his trusty horse, and off they gallop. Not far have they travelled before Prince F. feels the urge to go, but Sir Rushington sighs, and admonishes that he SHOULD have gone before they left. Passing a lake and splashing waterfall does nothing to relieve the small Prince’s predicament. UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN… (‘readers’ will soon be reading these thrice repeated phrases as they appear throughout the book. Maybe a pause for a trip to the loo…) Rain! More urgency. As Prince F. repeatedly hops off his horse, he is prevented from relief in turn by a fearsomely ugly ogre, a beautiful princess awaiting release from captivity in a high tower, and finally by an orderly queue, all awaiting a convenient tree.  The queue comprises the Big Bad Wolf, Puss in Boots, and the Seven Dwarves, all looking similarly pressed! On gallops Sir Rushington. ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ asks the desperate Prince. Up and down, up and down, oh look at the picture, he really is desperate! At last at Castle Crumbly they arrive, but there on the drawbridge stands the biggest and fiercest dragon!  The tiny Prince, forgetting his fears, charges at the dragon, who, in shock at such unheard of bravery, mistakenly sets fire tot the castle. Our Prince saves the day, a wonderful double spread showing just how the flames are extinguished! The three characters become friends, and fly together over the mountains. And the twist in the tale? It is Sir Rushington who then needs to stop, not for a pee but a poo.  Children will just love it, empathising in turn with each character, and they will be enchanted by the flowing text and Mould’s drawings full of fun and individuality. Don’t miss it… nor scanning the QR code on the front inside cover, on a smart phone, for a free audio reading of the book. Fantastic.