Title: Christmas Peas and Princesses: A Story of Love and Dreams
Author: Terry Boucher
Publisher: PageTurner, Press and Media LLC
ISBN: 1643766872
Genre: Children’s: Kindergarten-6
Pages: 58
Reviewed by: Liz Konkel
Hollywood Book Reviews
Christmas Peas and Princesses: A Story of Love and Dreams by author Terry Boucher begins when Prince Kevin has grown older. His mother Queen Victoria has plans for her son to marry what she considers to be a true princess, and believes she has found the right match in the mayor’s daughter Dorothy.
Before Kevin meets the mayor’s daughter, a mysterious woman named Taryn and her brother arrive at the palace and are offered shelter for Christmas. Kevin immediately connects with Taryn over their shared love of reading and once she leaves, Kevin finds that he can’t stop thinking about her. But she’s not a princess and she doesn’t fit into this world. Can he forget his feelings for Taryn to choose what his mother considers a true princess or will he follow his heart?
This book is accompanied by full illustrations which are lush and are in the style of a painting with each one containing fine details. The elegant style adds to the fairy tale by creating visuals to match every scene throughout the story. The fairy tale style kicks off with “Once upon a time,” which sets the stage for a magical tale and delivers a Christmas story that focuses on the themes of love, faith, family, and what it means to be a true princess.
Family is at the center with Kevin’s search for love coinciding with what his parents King Matthew and Queen Victoria wish for him. The search for love finds Kevin navigating the waters of finding his true princess, and understanding how to follow his heart to find his happiness. Finding love is sparked by his mother wanting him to find her definition of a true princess for him to marry and is the primary one that is pushing him.
Queen Victoria and King Matthew have different personalities which create vying ideals influencing Kevin. Victoria likes being queen due to all the ceremonies that comes with her prestigious position and so her dream for her son is to find who she considers a true princess. The king is considered more practical and enjoys his status for how he’s able to serve his people. They embody Kevin’s own struggle between choosing a wife for love or duty. The theme of faith is seen in the incorporation of reading the birth of Jesus and in how grateful Taryn is for the king and queen giving her shelter. The theme of love is primarily seen in Kevin’s choice between Dorothy and Taryn. He has an immediate connection with Taryn as they bond over reading and the adventurous places reading can take them. While he gets along with Dorothy the two don’t have the same spark and have a disconnect between them. Both women represent Kevin’s choice in whether he should go for someone he loves or for someone that matches him in status.
The story explores what it means to be a true princess which Queen Victoria establishes as being status and proper upbringing while Kevin soon learns that it’s a matter of heart and kindness. Taryn represents everything a true princess should be which is explained as being tender in heart, and being rich in love and faith. Though Dorothy has the status and upbringing fit for the role of a princess without love, faith, and that connection, she’s not the true princess that Kevin needs.
The story has recreated the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea into a Christmas story with how Queen Victoria decides to test the potential princesses with a pea under their mattresses. Her old-fashioned idea of a princess being unsettled by a pea is ironically proven correct as a touch of humor in the story though not the reason for what a princess is. Christmas Peas and Princesses is a sweet children’s tale that blends a Christmas story and the fairy tale Princess and the Pea which incorporates the themes of love, family, and faith.