Ratpunzel

Ratpunzel
by Ursula Vernon
Reviewed by Mrs. Jones

Ratpunzel is number three in Vernon's "Hamster Princess" series.  I love Ursula Vernon - seriously - and I will read and enjoy anything she writes, even chapter books intended for second-to-fifth graders.

Besides, the "Hamster Princess" books are adorable.

Harriet Hamsterbone is a princess.  She's brave, and intrepid, and would rather go on an adventure than stay home learning how to drink tea.  She's also very fond of fractions.  All of her adventures involve Harriet adventuring her way into a classic fairy tale, and then resolving it in her own straightforward and funny way.

In this volume, Harriet meets Ratpunzel, a rat princess with an unusually long tail, who is trapped in a tower by Mother Gothel.  Ratpunzel also loves to cook, but since she has lived in a tower for her entire life, learning to cook only from cookbooks, her cooking is a little... strange.  Unless you like smoked salmon on your birthday cake, in which case, it isn't strange at all.

I like these books because they're funny, and cute, and the artwork is adorable - Vernon is the illustrator as well as the author.  I love that Harriet is always very practical, looking for simple, straightforward solutions to very silly problems.  And the little details are fantastic - like the way that the Kingdom of Sunshine is so relentlessly cheerful that Harriet gets annoyed by it, and finds it a relief to enter the Forest of Misery.

Technically, these books are meant for younger readers than the tweens this blog is targeted for.  But they're so cute and so entertaining that I think a tween reader looking for something fast, easy, and fun might still enjoy them.  I definitely do.