THE PRINCESS AND THE (GREEDY) PEA

An attractively decorated bowl is full of peas of varying hues, one of which sports big, round eyes, a huge mouth, and stick arms and legs. The pea exclaims, “I am SO hungry!” The following double-page spread sets up a pattern of the pea swallowing various comestibles—beginning with a brussels sprout—while on the next spread, the text details just what the pea has eaten, in a precise, easily memorized litany that ends each successive verse with, “Without a doubt, / he swallowed a sprout. / What’s that about?” Each colorful spread adds another item to the pea’s ever-hungry stomach, as well as new verbs, such as noshed and gobbled. As in some versions of “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” the gluttonous pea eventually meets his demise—in this case, via the princess from a well-known fairy tale. The vivid, entertaining visuals continue as the grumpy, tan-skinned princess observes the damage done by the pea’s eating and drinking binge and then retires to a pile of mattresses made lumpy by the engorged pea who lies beneath. For readers familiar with both stories, the ending is much funnier than either tale on its own—although it also stands alone. The careful scansion replication allows readers to sing the text as a refreshing replacement of other versions.