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You’ve probably heard of the story of the princess and the pea.

You know.

The one about the prince looking for the perfect, sensitive princess to be his bride. The one about how the perfect princess would be so delicate and dainty that she would be kept awake at night by the presence of one tiny pea under 20 mattresses.

Well, The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas (Peachtree, 2012), a picture book written by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Sue deGennaro, sets that idea on its head.

Yes, there’s a prince in search of a wife, but he’s seen enough fragile, high-maintenance princesses. His own brother is married to one, and they don’t seem on their way to a “happily ever after.”

Prince Henrik wants a girl who likes to camp and play hockey.

So he develops his own test and is very surprised by the girl who passes.

Let’s hear more from today’s guest reviewer.

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Today’s reviewer: Cora

Age: 9

I like: Football, dancing, drawing and prairie dogs.

This book was about: A prince who is trying to find a princess who likes camping and hockey. He doesn’t care for a beautiful princess!

The best part was when: Pippa and the prince go play hockey.

I laughed when: It said, “Once upon a time there was a prince called Henrik who wanted very much to fall in love and get married. He was an outdoorsy type and hoped that the princess he married would like hockey and camping!”

I was worried when: Prince Henrik couldn’t find a princess.

I was surprised that: Pippa liked the peas in her bed.

This book taught me: Don’t love someone because of who they are on the outside, love them because who they are on the inside.

Other kids reading this book should watch for: The part when Prince Henrik put a whole pack of frozen peas instead of 1 single pea under the bed.

Three words that best describe this book are: “Hilarious.” “Outstanding.” “Curious.”

My favorite line or phrase in the book is: Many young girls visited, but none passed the test.

You should read this book because: It teaches you a big lesson that will help you in life.  (See my answer above about what this book taught me.)

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Thank you, Cora!

If you’d like to learn more about Tony Wilson, you can read this interview. Or, you can read his blog.

If you’d like to learn more about illustrator Sue deGennaro, you can read this interview. Or, you can watch this video of Sue discussing how she works.

So, I took a blog vacation.

A rather long vacation.

Something along the order of ten months and change or so....

I suspect that I don't have many readers anymore, but you never know. There may be a few of you lurking around in the darkness, peering over a corner, saying, "Jenny Rae Rappaport, what the hell ever happened to her?"

This did:


That's Cora Minami, who made her appearance on July 15, 2011 at 4:49 pm at 6 lbs, 14 oz via somewhat scheduled c-section. She has turned our lives upside down, literally and figuratively.

I'm sure that's something that all new parents say--in fact, it's probably been said in every language, in every civilization, since the dawn of time. But all of a sudden I got to be a mother--a MOTHER. A Mommy. I had my own baby. It was like all of the nine months of pregnancy pressed together and exploded, dovetailing with all of the longing of being a little girl who had played house and had baby dolls as long as she could remember.

Except Cora isn't a doll. She's a small living person with feelings and a tiny vocabulary ("hungry", "yeah", and "neh" for nursing). She laughs and giggles and drives me crazy sometimes with whining. She's creeping forward really well, and is THIS CLOSE to actually crawling. She's in love with Zoe, and desperately tries to express this love by happy, happy shrieks. Naturally, this scares Zoe, but there's not much we can do about it. Zoe loves her, too, of course.

But I'm babbling, which I suspect is something new parents do.

My point though, the thing I'm trying to say, is that I disappeared and I've returned, and I think I want to blog again. I even think I want to write again. So there will probably be more posts and more things to share; the character of the blog may change; I have a huge desire to post recipes and talk about my beloved little girl. To send things out into the ether, even if they never get read by more than a handful of people.

And in the meantime, bear with me about frequency, because this


is infinitely more important than anything else in the world. She'll be eight months old on Thursday. =)