The Princess and the Wizard: A magical rhyming story from the creators of What the Ladybird Heard

Just to clarify that my review is for The Princess and the Wizard as there seems to be quite a few reviews from Julia Donaldson's other books mixed together for some reason under this product page which at the time of writing my review was specifically only for The Princess and the Wizard book. We have the paperback version which is a good sized book measuring 25cm by 25cm. The book is not written in a rhyming style but does have small rhyming parts throughout. The book is about a Princess called Eliza and a wicked Wizard who turns up at her birthday party uninvited and turns her Mum, Dad and guests into stone. The Wizard captures Eliza but not before her Fairy Godmother turns up and declares that Eliza should have seven chances to escape "by changing her colour and changing her shape". The book then proceeds to describe each of the Princesses escape attempts such as her turning herself into a blue fish or an orange fox but somehow the Wizard finds her every time with the help of his magic spell book. So can Eliza outwit the Wizard and his magic book and escape back to her family?....... The illustrations are beautifully done with bright colourful pictures and each has glitter accents at certain parts such as Eliza's dress, tree branches or the Wizard's robe and hat. The story flows nicely and the repetition is great for little ones learning to read and recognise words. The book covers the days of the week, colours, animals and numbers and is one of the longer books by the author but still perfectly short enough for it to be read as a bedtime story. Another wonderful children's book suitable for younger children perhaps from between the ages of two and seven. My children love Julia Donaldson books and we have slowly been increasing our collection over the last few months. Both of my children love this book although my daughters favourite is still Sugarlump and the Unicorn and my son's favourite is still Room on the Broom . This is another one of the glitter books which include Sugarlump and the Unicorn , Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox , The Rhyming Rabbit and The Singing Mermaid and so each page has glitter highlights on it which adds a lovely sparkly effect to the story.

Great book for teaching days of the week to year 1 students

Lovely book

I have to warn you, if you are looking for one of Julia Donaldson's normal works, her witty rhyming stories with the poetic touch, this is not the book for you. It is a very girly book, with lots of sparkly glitter and lots of pink. That is actually very appealing to little girls. However, It doesn't rhyme. If you are willing to keep an open mind and don't mind a very different style of writing compared to the other Julia Donaldson books, then go ahead and buy this book. I have a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. My boy was curious about all the glitter, but the pink colour scheme and overall girliness didn't attract him. But my girl loved it! She liked the story and the illustrations and of course all the glitter. I personally like this book too. I think it's different, a good different. The story is about a princess who was kidnapped by a wizard on her birthday (after her fairy god mother managed to give her ten chances to escape from the wizard by changing her shape and size). She changes into different animals - a blue fish, a yellow chick, a green grasshopper, an orange fox among others in her attempts to escape. This is what I like about the story. It teaches colours and different animals. So I would recommend buying it. I agree, Julia Donaldson's rhyming stories are really witty and beautifully written, but sometimes it's fun reading a book by her that is still beautifully written but from a whole different angle.

The book is well presented with lots of glossy pictures so easy to entertain a small child with. Very reminiscent of a famous fairy tale - or maybe two - mixed. These days the little ones don't get traditional fairy tales read to them so much (well, not in my daughters houses) so maybe it will be a brand new concept to little Lily. I'm told she loves it. Packaging was unbelievable though! Did any of you see the picture in the Daily Mail about Amazon packaging of 3 thin lightweight paperback books? This came exactly the same as that! A box so large I couldn't think what on earth I'd ordered! Then 3 thin books this size inside it with about 50feet of brown paper bundled inside to stop them moving around!! Must have cost a fortune to post and ALL postage costs must reflect in the prices we pay - especially in the 'free p&p' arrangement. Disgusting and ludicrous are only two words that come to mind in this day and age of recycling absolutely everything. We will need to recycle for Amazon never mind 'recycle for England'!! It was bad, honestly! Book arrived ok though lol

My five year old loves this book. Unfortunately as it was crammed into a box too small for it (with another item) the spine was torn but it has not affected their enjoyment of the story. Luckily it was not a gift though as it would not have been very nice at all to give a damaged, bent book to a child!

These books are absolutely brilliant. The quality of the pictures is amazing with lovely glittery bits dotted around. The stories are great and the way they flow when read aloud is just perfect. They will bring fun and joy for many years!

4 year old loves this book - imaginative story with nice illustrations.

Ich habe dieses Buch für meine 10 jährige Enkelin gekauft um ihr das Englisch lernen leichter zu machen. Es entspricht genau meinen Vorstellungen. Nicht zu viel und zu schwieriger Text. Es macht Lust zu lesen, weil es durch die äußerst schönen und glitzernden Bilder begeistert. Leider wurde es durch den Transport beschädigt, aber die Zeit reichte nicht es noch einmal zu bestellen.

Ottimi disegni, bellissime righe in inglese. Una divertente storia della principessa che deve sfuggire alla maledizione del mago. I brillantini presenti in ogni pagina impreziosiscono il tutto!

This author is the best. I got all her books. My kids enjoy them daily!

My kid’s favourite book

My 3 Years old child likes it very much, so colourful, the little pieces of glitter that she can touch. She doesn't care much about the story, she is still too young to understand. The important thing for her is that there is a princess!