One of the perks of being a blogger is that sometimes publishers send you books to review, I never know what I will get but the tell tale knock at the door and a UPS package on my welcome mat only means one thing around here - that I have a new book to read! I don't review every book I am sent and sometimes i wait until the moment is right, like for Valentine's Day. Even though this book isn't about the holiday it is a love story!
Ten Big Toes and A Prince's Nose by Nancy Gow and beautifully illustrated by Stephen Costanza
It's a love story about a prince and a princess who aren't fairytale perfect. What I love about this story isn't just that the prince and princess find each other and fall in love ( hey I am a sucker for a good love story!), but that their parents instill in them a sense of worth no matter what they may look like. There is a beautiful rhyme in the book that ends with " I am what I am and that's alright with me." As a parent I hope I manage to get this message through to my kids and if I do I will be terrifically proud, because it's such a struggle for all of us old or young to accept ourselves imperfections and all.
So back to the plot, these two royals , one with a big nose and the other with huge feet find each other and because they have been told to find the beauty in others despite the obvious imperfections they fall deeply in love. Maybe our own road with big noses or funny eyebrows or chubby bodies won't be as simple to figure out as this but come on it's a fairytale! Awesome read!