The Princess Knight

Title: The Princess Knight

Author: Funke, Cornelia

Illustrator: Meyer, Kerstin

Publisher and Date: Scholastic Inc., September 2004

Genre: Picture Book

Age Range: K-3rd

Summary:

This book tells the story of a young princess named Violetta. She is the only daughter of the king, and she has three older brothers. Her mother died when she was very young and the king has no idea how to raise a girl. He decides to raise Violetta in the same way he raised his sons: riding and jousting, fighting with swords, and good table manners. Fueled by her brother's teasing, Violetta becomes determined to be an excellent knight. When he father announces that he is going to hold a tournament and that HER hand in marriage is the prize, she secretly enters the tournament and WINS! From then on she decides who she will marry. At the end of the book she ends up marrying the rose gardener's son. :-)

Response:

I LOVED this book! Who does not love a story about a princess, especially one who's so unique! I loved the way this book challenged the way princesses are typically portrayed. Usually in any "good" fairytale, the princess is the "damsel in distress" who needs her prince to come and save her. In The Princess Knight however, Violetta excels at unladylike qualities, such as jousting and sword fighting, and is able to save herself. This book reminded me of another book by Cornelia Funke, Princess Pigsty, because they both challenge the role of a traditional princess and the roles of girls in general.

Teaching Ideas:

I think it would be a good idea to use this book when discussing gender roles. It would be neat to use this book in a comparison and contrast project with traditional fairy tales. ReadWriteThink.org had a great activity in which the students thought about traditional Disney movies and fairy tales such as Cinderella and Snow White answered the following questions to help them critically think about the fairy tales. The questions are as follows: 1. What are their physical attributes? ,2.How do they relate to the male characters, 3. What do they seem to want out of life, and 4. Do they seem realistic? I think it would be great to use this activity and have the students answer those questions about the traditional fairy tales as well as The Princess Knight. After they are finished the students should compare and contrast the two sets of answers. It will help the students realize that sometimes girls are portrayed unfairly in literature, but they do not have to succumb to those stereotypes in real life! This is a fun book to read and it teaches a great lesson!

check out Cornelia Funke's website for other books!!!