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The delineation between children’s, young adult and adult literature is sadly becoming evermore smudged with darker and heavier subject matter crossing the boundaries. The Very Little Princess: Zoey's Story can be summed up in a single word: depressing. Anyone spying the deceptively delightful cover and title of this book would reasonably expect a typical little princess story. The tale within is instead built around neglectful parenting, mental illness, abandonment, selfishness, fictitious realities and minimal positive progress.
Quite unexpectedly one morning, Zoey finds herself on the road to visit a grandmother she never knew existed. She doesn’t know what to expect from all this, but the near-instantaneous arguing between her mother and grandmother upon their arrival is not it.
Attempting to avoid the conflict raging downstairs, she makes her way upstairs and discovers a pink room with a fantastic dollhouse witth one perfect little doll inside. Zoey soon finds the biggest surprise of all: the doll is actually alive.
This very little princess demands to be catered to by her latest servant – another big girl – and Zoey is quite happy to play along. What little girl wouldn’t love it if her doll came to life and played the aloof princess? Zoey takes her around the house and yard to eat a gourmet lunch and find her old throne room. She picks flowers to lie at the feet of the princess on her throne, and together they discover the key to the magic that brought the doll to life. Through it all, Zoey hopes that the doll will learn to share roles so Zoey can be the princess sometimes, too — but that’s an awful lot to ask.
The thrill of the magic helps Zoey to ignore the continued arguing from within the house and overlook the unkind behavior of the doll. The question is, for how long? Inevitably, the tense situation that has brought Zoey and her mother to visit Grandma finally comes to a head. It takes Zoey’s world crashing all around her for the doll to realize how small-hearted she has been.
Myriad books by author Marion Dane Bauer grace the shelves in bookstores and libraries, so she obviously knows how to write a great children’s book. While The Very Little Princess: Zoey's Story exhibits her fine writing, however, the dark, heavy, depressing subject matter is more suited in a young adult book than for elementary grades.
Mental illness and depression are the causal factors behind Zoey’s mother dropping her little girl off at Grandma’s house and leaving without saying goodbye – probably forever. The entire story plays out over a few hours; during this time, Zoey hides from the arguing and tries to make friends with a snotty, selfish doll that is more aloof imaginary friend than anything else. For a children’s book, it’s saying something when a smile isn’t cracked from start to finish of the read.
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The Very Little Princess: Zoey's Story (A Stepping Stone Book)