Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale Of A Girl Who Floated (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Princess Hyacinth is a princess who floats; as in floating in the air is her natural state of being. We walk, skip, run, and jump; Princess Hyacinth does those things and much more in the air. Enough said. Except for the fact that her parents try to crush her light with rules about what is proper for a princess. Princess Hyacinth is forced to wear heavy clothing and is strapped into all of her chairs. She puts on a bathing suit just to watch other children swim. Miserable. One day she hitches a ride on a balloon and get's let go into the air. Her friend the Boy saves her with his kite and they become friends. Since he has way down from the sky, she is allowed to float outside whenever she likes. Heide's storytelling is zippy, and her sense of voice for the narrator/princess is great for children of all ages. Smith's illustrations perfectly reflect the story, vibrant but not overbearing, the sky images are perfectly colored. Both work together to tell a feel good story. Also, Princess Hyacinth floats. What else do you really need? The text is big and colorful, the images minimal to the text, not trying to compete but rather accompany its exuberance with an understated presence--a punctuation mark to every facing page of the story. Even still, text and illustration alternate organically as prelude to the other. The soft tones and textures and the absence of prissiness in the neither pretty nor ugly Princess denotes a strange normalcy considering this is a fairy tale--isn't it? Like a good fairy tale, the reader/listener should relate to the points of familiarity: the desire to live life untethered and to indulge in explore the near limitless potential with which we are born.
What do You think about Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale Of A Girl Who Floated (2009)?
The illustrations were cute and I enjoyed the princess and the boy.
—annej0
I feel like this would make for an awesome marionette show.
—finnickforever
Cute story and nice illustrations. I like Lane Smith a lot.
—chloepasley
