The Daring Prince Dashing

PreS-Gr 2—A daring prince meets his match and then loses her in this Cinderella-esque story of a boy, a girl, and a pogo stick. Prince Dashing is an adventurous lad who doesn't think twice about bathing with crocodiles, toasting s'mores by way of dragon's breath, or catapulting himself from the castle onto his faithful steed. A chance encounter with a mysterious girl on a pogo stick leaves the prince feeling like he's met his match. She rushes out of the party at bedtime, leaving behind her pogo stick, which is picked up by the prince and inspires him to go on a quest to find her. The prince insists on going blindfolded in order to locate this mysterious girl by the sound the pogo stick makes, but he winds up in a zoo where various animals play with the "stick-thingy." The illustrations have an animated cartoon quality that works well to show off the prince and the girl's ridiculous antics, and the text is full of clever phrases that reframe the classic fairy tale to feature two kids being kids and pulling off outlandish stunts.