The Hinky Pink - Megan McDonald

Illustrated by Brian Floca
Published 2008
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Pumpkin

Similes and metaphors: "Her stitches were straight as a new set of teeth. Her French knots were perfect roses. Her lace, why it was as wispy as any spider web in the kingdom." Alliteration and elipses: "If only she could embroider silk and satin, touch velvet and voile..." Great vocabulary: "Holy ratatouille!" "Poodle curls as plain as pennoni." Great verbs: loomed, creaked, snatched, peered,

This is a terrific folk tale, based on another but twisted and turned and recreated by Megan McDonald. There are a couple of places that I thought there was something missing, even going so far as to see if two pages were stuck together. Other than that, it was good storytelling. She might have even gone a little overboard with the figurative language, so this would be a great teaching tool for many reasongs.

Anabel, a young seamstress who dreams of creating and stitchin a ball gown, is called to the home of a princess and given one week to do so. They give her a beautiful tower room in which to live and sew, but she finds she cannot sleep. Something is pinching her and stealing her covers all night long. She ingeniously figures out how to solve this problem just before it's too late and she'll not finish the beautiful gown she's making. But, as we know will happen, all comes out perfectly, tra la!

Lots of text, very cute illustrations, good story. This works together well. I'd love to read it to kids and ask them to watch for places that it needs a few more details to get from one point to the next! Transitions, organization.....

First Line/s: 'Back when mirrors could talk and princes were frogs, there lived a girl in Old Italy named Anabel. Alas, not Anabella."