The Princess in Black and the Bathtime Battle by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, 96 pp, RL 2
The Princess in Black and the Bathtime Battle
by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale,
illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Review Copy from Candlewick Press
Bathtime Battle is the seventh book in this series that just keeps getting better. When a horrible stink takes over her kingdom, the Princess in Black tries to get rid of it by fanning it away, but she can't do it on her own. The smell travels into the kingdoms of other princesses and heroes emerge to save the day. But the stink is POWERFUL! This stinky monster is,
stinkier than a full litter box. It was stinkier than a clogged toilet. It was stinkier than a pile of dirty diapers on a hot summer day. The stinky monster was so stinky, it was more stink than monster.
From Flowergirl and Horsefly, the Cartwheel Queen and Good Boy, Miss Fix-It and Doom Rabbit the bunny, and the Princess in Blankets and Corny her unicorn - no one can figure out how to battle the beast - until they decide to work together and give it a bath. And that is when they discover the tiny monster, "finally untangled from the funky fur" of the stink monster. Once the stink is gone, the monsters can smell the goats again and are promptly chased back down the hole to Monster Land. The Princess Heroes all agree that working together is the best way to work - but how can they call each other when they need help? Miss Fix-it shares her discovery - a pink stone that sends "pink sparkle twinkles" up in the sky when you shine a light through it. All the Princess Heroes confess that they each have a stone like that (remember The Princess in Black and the Perfect Playdate where Princess Magnolia gave out pink stones as party favors???) and agree to use the Sparkle Signal in the sky to communicate with each other. The final AWESOME two page spread shows the Princess Heroes in profile, the Princess in Black holding her stone out in front of her, a Sparkle Signal shining in the pink sky. As they all look at the sparkles, the Princess in Black says, "Maybe there are even more heroes out there. Maybe they'll see it too." A page turn reveals a never-before-seen-princess . . . HOORAY!
