Sir Princess Petra's Mission

SIR PRINCESS PETRA’S MISSION: THE PEN PIEYU ADVENTURES #3 BOOK BLOG TOUR

I am pleased today to bring you my review of the third book of The Pen Pieyu Adventures: Sir Princess Petra’s Mission by Diane Mae Robinson as a part of a book blog tour hosted by Sue Morris at Kid Lit Reviews.  I’m always on the hunt for princess books for my daughter because she loves princess’ but I especially look for books that portray a princess with more than just looks and a castle.  Sir Princess Petra is a princess but she is also much much more.

Book Summary:

I did not read the first two books in the series but the author nicely summarizes those and it is enough to jump right into book 3.  The main character is Princess Petra who doesn’t want to be just a princess that learns how to do princess things, she wants to become a knight in her father’s kingdom.  The first book summary tells us how that happens.  In book 2 summary we learn of how her father sends her to talent school to learn things that princess’ should know, like knitting and learning how to be engaged.  I’m so glad that Petra hates all of these and finds her own special talent to contribute to the kingdom.  And now into book 3 Petra’s father again sets Petra off on a mission and if she doesn’t succeed she will lose her knighthood.

I loved the imagery of the opening paragraph of book 3 where we find Petra cleaning up after wrestling a crocodile.  Definitely not the image of a stereotypical princess.  Her father sends her on a mission to capture an elusive ‘car-panther’ and if she doesn’t capture it and bring it back she will lose her knighthood. He wants her to go on the mission by herself but she knows his rule book better than he does and finds a rule that says a knight can use any steed they chose to accompany the knight on her/his mission and so her trusty steed, Snarls the Dragon, and her depart on their new mission.

The duo face some obstacles along the way to find a ‘car-panther’ but through Petra’s smart thinking, bravery and compassion they overcome each obstacle they face.

When they do finally find an Elven in the land of Boogy Gobees, it doesn’t take Petra long to realize that a ‘car-panther’ is actually a ‘carpenter’ which is what the Elven people are and she learns all about them and how they love trees and can’t bare cutting them down to build their homes with them.  She also quickly realizes the problem the Elven people have with creating and maintaining their homes. They make their homes mainly out of clay and other items but there homes are always crumbling down.  Petra quickly again with her smart thinking remembers that back home the potters use fire to set their clay so it becomes hard.  This is what the Elven people need with their homes.  She enlists the help of her trusty dragon, Snarls, but he is not a very confident dragon when it comes to his ability of breathing fire.  Snarls doesn’t always have control over his flames.  Sir Princess Petra encourages Snarls not to give up and to keep on trying until eventually he does it and saves the homes.

In the end she saves the castle of the king of the Elven and he and his people are forever in their debt.  And she also explains to him about her mission and what happens if she doesn’t return with a ‘carpenter’.  The king is so impressed with her and her friends that he knights her and Snarls in the land of Boogy Gobees.  Petra is proud as she knows she made the right choice.

When she gets back to Pen Pieyu there is a grand celebration.  Her father is so happy that his daughter did not succeed in her mission.  She explains to him that even though she may have failed his mission she gained honour and was knighted in the new land.  And then she uses her knowledge again of the rule book to foil her father as she finds a clause that states ‘any mission must be a true mission’ and since she was sent to capture a ‘car-panther’ her mission was not a true mission thus she did not fail.  She remains Sir Princess Petra.

My thoughts:

If you are looking for a princess book that doesn’t depict princess’ in a stereotypical manner then this series is a good one.  Sir Princess Petra uses her intelligence, bravery, compassion, problem solving skills and more on her adventures.  And her adventures have interesting characters and imaginative words.  My kids love made up words and ‘Boogy Gobees’ fits that category.  The book has black and white sketches that accompany the story  that help break up the chapter book and give us a glimpse as what some of these characters might look like. Petra is a nine year old girl and this series would be perfect for girls beginning to read early chapter books.  My daughter is almost there and she loves princess books.  I would introduce her to this series as girls need to see that there is more to them just looks and there is more to strive for then a fancy castle and a prince.

For more information about this series and the author please visit these sites and where you can find colouring pages and lesson plans for teachers planning on using the book in their classroom:

Dragons Book 

Diane Mae Robinson

Cheers,

Bonnie New Signature

 

 

 

Bonnie Dani

Educator, Writer, Blogger, Mom

Contact Me: [email protected]