The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora

Multicultural Fairy Tale

The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora is a fantastic version of this beloved story retold with an African setting.  The setting was inspired by Isadora after spending almost ten years in Africa.  In this book, a prince travels the land in hopes of finding a princess to marry.  Along his journey, he meets many women, but is skeptical of their claims to be a princess.  One night, a princess arrives at his door step, disheveled by the harsh weather.  The queen has a trick to test the validity of the princess.  I always loved this story as a little girl, and I think this version is awesome, too!  I like the different African greetings introduced while the prince is on his quest to find a princess.  This would be fabulous book to add to your classroom collection because it is a fairy tale with a multicultural aspect, making it appealing to a variety of different children.  The illustrations are bright and alluring to the target audience, primary aged children.

In the classroom...

1.  Put words with different vowel sounds on peas made of construction paper, and have the students sort the words according to the vowel sounds.  Teachers could work on long vowel sounds one day, and short vowel sounds the next.

2.  When introducing the parts of a letter, have students write a letter to the queen, asking her about the story behind why only real princesses can feel the pea.

Response questions...

1.  What words were spoken in an African language (in the story) and what do the words mean?
2.  Did the queen reveal her "pea trick" to any of the other characters that night?  Why or why not?

About the author...
Rachel Isadora has written and illustrated many children's books that have received honors.  She has traveled all over the world and been inspired by people or places she was encountered along the way. Isadora currently resides in New York where she continues to find new ideas to write about.

Check out these other books by the author...
Ben's Trumpet (her most famous piece) and Uh-Oh!

References:
Isadora, Rachel. (2007). The Princess and the Pea.  GP Putnam Sons: New York