"Like a Real Princess?"

The Paper Bag Princess

By Robert Munsch & illustrated by Michael Martchenko

Publisher: Annick Press   Copyright Date: 1980
Number of Pages: 32 pages

Awards

• Gold Award Winner, National Parenting Publications Awards

• Our Choice List, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

• Silver Birch Express Award nomination

This book has a grade level interest and reading of about 1st grade. This book is a fiction book, as well as, a children's picture book. 

Summary

Elizabeth is the little girl in this story who is a princess. She is going to marry her handsome prince Ronald. A dragon comes and takes Ronald away from her so she fights using her whits to get him back. All of this work makes her see the real side of her darling Ronald.

Use of Book

This book is a very cute and funny read. It has many themes within it and they are very helpful in getting a meaningful point across to students. Since this is a first grade level book I would use it to work with them on listening skills and dramatic role playing. I would only read them the first half of the book, and before reading them the rest, I would make them get into groups and make up a skit of what they think the ending will be. This gets them predicting different endings and using their imaginations.

Rating System

                                             <3<3<3                <3<3                           <3                    No <3

Rating System
Theme	If the theme is well developed and the message is portrayed very clearly.	The theme makes sense; however, it could be more developed.	The message is hard to find in the story and there isn’t much of a theme to go off of.	There isn’t a theme at all.
Plot	The plot is very well developed and everything flows smoothly.	The plot has a few gaps, but the story still is capable of moving along.	The plot has gaps that makes it hard to move the story along.	There is no plot in this book.
Characters	All the characters are developed well in the story.	There is more detail that could be added to the characters.	Characters are very poorly developed.	Characters aren’t developed at all.
Setting	The setting is described in detail and is necessary for the story to make sense.	The setting is described alright and still is needed to help the story make sense.	The setting is described alright, but it isn’t needed to help the story move along.	The setting provided is not necessary for the story to occur.
Illustrations	The illustrations are very detailed and help move the story along.	The illustrations are good, but don’t help the story move along.	The illustrations aren’t the best.	There are no meaningful illustrations at all.

Theme <3<3<3 - I gave this book three hearts for theme because I really enjoyed all of the different themes that could be seen throughout the story and they were all developed well. Some themes found are be persistent, intelligence, and love.

Plot <3<3<3 - I gave this book three hearts for plot because it was very well developed and the story flowed very smoothly. There weren't any gaps in the story that made me question what was going on.

Characters <3<3<3 - I gave the characters in this book three hearts because even though there were only a few of them, they were developed thoroughly. The moods of them were well portrayed through the illustrations as well and it made it easy to follow what they were thinking or doing.

Setting <3<3<3 - The setting in this book gets three hearts because it is essential to the development of the story. Without the setting, the story would fall apart and be very difficult to understand and follow.

Illustrations <3<3<3 - The illustrations in this book were very well done. They help the story move along and they make it easy to see what the characters are thinking. These illustrations were fabulous to look at.