Princess Talia, the four-eyed princess

Princess Talia and the Dragon, written by Helen Brain and illustrated by Vian Oelofsew, is a book full of pretty cool illustrations.

 

To begin with, Princess Talia isn’t really that cute – by princess standards anyway. She has long brown hair with a few “fly aways”, big round pink glasses and a really, really small crown. But we love that she is not your typical Barbie-like princess. She looks like someone little girls can relate to and aspire to be.  The book’s quirky illustration adds to its fun factor. 

 

But back to the story….Once upon a time the king and queen (who really needs to lay off the hairspray and blue eye shadow), welcomed a little princess into the world. They were so happy they decided to throw a party. And of course a colony of fairies decided to attend the festivities – including one grumpy redhead, Strelitzia.

 

All the fairies were super excited to see the princess and gave her many gifts including kindness and loveliness. Everyone except Strelitzia, who was still pretty upset that she could not get ready for the affair properly because she could not find her glasses. To top it off the king didn’t even have a medal for her. Talk about a major blow to a fairy’s ego. So what did little old Strelitza do? She gave the princess one of the worst gifts she could think of – the gift of poor eyesight. (We would have gone with warts but, hey, that’s just us).

 

Poor Princess Talia had to go on with life, looking like a nerd, and of course all the kids made fun of her. Sound familiar, mums? 

 

The book has a great message – that it’s OK to wear glasses, kids. In fact, it’s pretty cool.

 

And in today’s world where everyone is obsessed with looking perfect and beautiful, it is great that all the little girls do not have to feel bad about wearing glasses. Forget about riding off into the sunset with a handsome prince (who, ask you mum, will hardly ever show up) and being rescued from a dungeon by a knight in shining armour. Princess Talia and the Dragon is all about loving who you are. Now that’s a message we don’t mind spreading. This is the perfect book for little girls, especially those who wear glasses and need to know how awesome they are – in case they don’t know already.

 

*We've got two copies of Princess Talia and the Dragon to give away. Simply email [email protected] with the subject line 'Princess Talia and the Dragon' and tell us who illustrated the book. 

 

- Tamlyn Canham