4/6/13

Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup

Weeding time has begun hereabouts, a time of mixed joy (I find weeding soothing) and despair (I can't weed fast enough).  But regardless, I am a weeder.  As well as a reader.

So of course I had to get hold of Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup (Candlewick, March 2013), the first example I have ever come across of a juvenile fantasy whose heroine is a weeder!  (Weed fantasy--the next big thing? Probably not).


Adela is a princess--plain and somewhat awkward, but royal none the less, which conflicts with her gardening (I hear you, Adela--my job conflicts with my weeding something fierce too!).   And because of her love for plants, she gatecrashes a garden party to which she was not invited (though the handsome young castle gardener, and her vapidly beautiful young step-aunt both got invitations) simply because the thought of visiting the fabled garden of Lady Hortensia is irresistible.

Lady Hortensia has a way with plants.  An evil, twisted, magical way...let's just say, all the beautiful people who get invited to her parties are changed by the experience...and Adela is about to see her in action!  Adela's fortunate escape from the attentions of Lady Hortensia, and the brave efforts of a thief (in enchanted magpie form--he was the most interesting and entertaining character of the story), foil the evil Hortensia, and all is well.

It's a pleasant, fast read--light, fairy-tale fun.  There's not much in the way of deep substance to the plot or to the various romances (which were rather rushed), and the moral--that "a beautiful person was someone who was good and kind" (p 190) is underlined repeatedly.  But Adela's desire to do her own thing outside societies expectations of what a princess should be, and her growing determination to make those desires come true, are appealing. 

A nice one for younger middle grade readers, who don't require their princesses to be beautiful, or their romances more than fairy-tales.

Here's another review, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

And now I'm trying to think of other fantasies involving gardening--Petunia, in Princess of the Silver Wood, by Jessica Day George, and several of Robin McKinley's heroines, love gardening...anyone else?

13 comments:

  1. I personally hate gardening, even though I am a champion mustard grower. (By which I mean I turned an entire backyard into a mustard field on accident.)

    But I do like the idea of a thief turned magpie.

    Although there are no gardeners, one of my favorite contemporary fantasies is The China Garden by Liz Berry, in which there is obviously an important garden.

    And I love, love, love Tamora Pierce's Emelan series. One of the four main characters, Briar, and his mentor Rosethorn, are both gardeners.

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    1. Yes, I like The China Garden too!

      But I have never ever read any Tamora Pierce--maybe I should start with this series...I keep thinking I should read something of hers, and then feel overwhelmed by choices, so I don't!

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    2. As many books as TP has written, all of them are set in one of two worlds so it's easiest to just start with where she started in each world. Alanna: The First Adventure if you want to read the Tortall books; Sandry's Book if you want to read the Emelan books.

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  2. There's The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskel; it's sort of a cross between The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Persephone's abduction; the heroine wants to be an herbalist & does a fair bit of plant tending.

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    1. Oh yes--I'd forgotten that! It was (naturally) part of the book I liked lots!

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  3. Oh, and Garden Princess doesn't appear to be available at my library, but the search turned up this non fiction, which I have now put on hold: Queen Elizabeth in the garden : a story of love, rivalry, and spectacular gardens by Martyn, Trea. That's not a title I can ignore.

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    1. I think I've heard good things about that one--do please come back and let me know if it's good!

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  4. Thieves are always the most interesting characters...

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    1. Although I am pretty sure that I like boy thieves more than girl thieves...maybe because I never wanted to be one myself???

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    2. Hmmm...you know now that I think about I like boy thieves better too. Wonder why? The not wanting to be on myself seems like a good explanation.

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  5. I just love that she goes to the party for the garden--how fun! I think I have to share this one with a friend of mine who's writing a fantasy novel with a gardener heroine...

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    1. Oh, by all means do! There's always room for more fantasy gadener heroines--I hope your friends book goes well!

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