When I was sharing a book for International Women's Day earlier this month  I couldn't think of a better one than this wonderf...

Little Feminist Book Club: Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights

Thursday, March 28, 2019 BookBairn 1 Comments


 When I was sharing a book for International Women's Day earlier this month I couldn't think of a better one than this wonderful might princess book!! And of course it makes the perfect addition to our Little Feminist Book Club series.




The trouble with most fairytales 
is that they sound the same.
There’s usually a problem 
and a dragon who’s to blame.

And sometimes there’s a tower
with a princess stuck inside,
A kingly dad and lots of knights 
Who often want a bride.

But though this is a fairytale
With all the usual team,
If you read on you’ll find that things
Aren’t always what they seem.


Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights by Steven Lenton is a lot more than just an amusing title! It’s BookBairn’s favourite book at the moment and Princess Daisy is a lot more than your regular princess. She uses the evidence of all the strange and frightening things that are happening in her town to conclude that they have a dragon problem. 


So her father, the king, sends away for some knights to slay the dragon. But these knights “are twits, it’s plain to see” at least to Daisy it’s plain to see! But Daisy’s father says she must stay safe in her tower. The knights, the nincompoops that they are, fail in various ways but there is a fourth knight, a strange knight - with no armour and riding a cow. But it turns out that the dragon is just a baby - all she wanted was some milk, a cuddle and a book. Daisy, it turns out, is much better at soothing dragons than the nincompoop knights. And at this point in the story comes one of my all time favourite picture book quotes:


Girls are clever, tough and bold 

And brave and strong and true
We’re just as good as boys, you know
We can be heroes too!


Such an empowering message of a princess who is a bit mightier than some of the old-fashioned ones. But of course, Daisy and the Dragon and the knights all live happily ever after. 


There are so many great things about this book I hardly know where to start. Personally, I love a rhyming a picture book! But they have to be well done and this one is. They rhymes are perfect for reading aloud and they roll off the tongue so well. It also has great fun illustrations that bring the story to life with little extras and humour beyond the words of the story - and a little hidden snail on many pages! Another wonderful thing about this book is that it is part of the Nosy Crow Stories Aloud series so you can listen to the audiobook by scanning the QR code or on the Nosy Crow podcast (you could even pop over and listen now to hear how good it is!). And of course our copy is extra special because when we met the lovely Steven Lenton he signed and drew a special dragon for BookBairn. 


But it’s one that we love and read over and over! 100s of times! And with a mighty girl message in each read for BookBairn it’s a truly wonderful story!


Happy Reading,
Kim and the bairns x


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1 comment:

  1. What a great title and what a great book. The illustrations look fabulous, and to get a personal illustration is even more fabulous. Great stuff.

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