The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party (Princess in Black #2)

by Shannon Hale (Author) Leuyen Pham (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Inconvenient monster alarms, a sparkly array of princess guests, and spot-on slapstick pacing make for a party readers will celebrate.

Today is Princess Magnolia's birthday party, and she wants everything to be perfect. But just as her guests are arriving . . . Brring! Brring! The monster alarm! Princess Magnolia runs to the broom closet, ditches her frilly clothes, and becomes the Princess in Black! She rushes to the goat pasture, defeats the monster, and returns to the castle before her guests discover her secret. But every time Princess Magnolia is about to open her presents, the monster alarm rings again.

And every time she rushes back--an inside-out dress here, a missing shoe there--it gets harder to keep the other princesses from being suspicious. Don't those monsters understand that now is not a good time for an attack?

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Kirkus

A chuckle-inducing, entirely worthy stand-alone follow-up.

ALA/Booklist

Keeping the world safe from monsters is a daunting task. And only the PIB can accomplish this while throwing the perfect party! Expect high demand.

School Library Journal

Everyone's favorite princess-cum-superhero returns to defend her kingdom in Shannon and Dean Hale's follow-up to the hit Princess in Black (Candlewick, 2014). The charming Princess Magnolia prepares for her birthday party by frosting cupcakes, decorating the house, and even festooning her trusty steed, Frimplepants, with a bow on his unicorn horn (albeit a fake horn, as readers will likely remember that he sheds it to become Blacky). As she excitedly awaits her guests—12 sparkly attired and ethnically diverse princesses riding on various animals—her monster alarm sounds. Donning her ninja-esque, kingdom-saving outfit, she narrowly escapes detection by partygoers before vanquishing hungry goat-eating monsters, returning just in time to welcome her fellow royal friends through the castle gates. But before she can settle in for tea and open her presents, Magnolia's monster alarm blares again. And so begins a comical back-and-forth as Magnolia tries desperately to keep her never-ending monster battling under wraps while keeping her princess pals in the dark about her true identity. The delightfully awkward Princess Sneezewort suspects something is up, as each time Magnolia returns, something about her is slightly amiss—shoes on the wrong feet, branches in her hair, an inside-out dress. When the Princess in Black loses her cool with the umpteenth monster emergency, will her cover be blown? VERDICT Princess and adventure fans alike will clamor for an invite to this not-so-perfect but oh-so-entertaining party.—Amy M. Laughlin, Darien Library, CT

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

A lively cohort between the ages of 5 and 9 will rejoice to learn that their favorite royal monster-vanquisher has returned, in Shannon Hale and Dean Hale's The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party.
—The Wall Street Journal 

Girls who loved the Pinkalicious series (HarperCollins) should find this chapter book easy on the eye and paced for the average reader.
—School Library Connection
Shannon Hale
Shannon and Dean Hale are the award-winning husband-and-wife team behind The Princess in Black, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Shannon Hale is also the author of the Newbery Honor novel Princess Academy as well as the New York Times best-selling series Ever After High. Shannon and Dean Hale live in Salt Lake City, Utah.

LeUyen Pham is the illustrator of many books for children, including God's Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams and Aunt Mary's Rose by Douglas Wood, as well as the Freckleface Strawberry books by Julianne Moore. LeUyen Pham lives in California.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780763665111
Lexile Measure
500
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Candlewick Press (MA)
Publication date
October 13, 2015
Series
Princess in Black
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV034000 - Juvenile Fiction | Royalty (kings queens princes princesses knights etc.)
Library of Congress categories
Parties
Princesses
Birthday parties

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