The Princess and The Sage

 The Princess and The Sage, by Anneliese Blakeney.

 Summary:

 The Princess' governess has left - and she wasn't the first. None of them can endure The Sage (he insists you use Capitals) and his oddness. Deciding The Princess no longer needs a governess, The Queen appoints The Sage to become her tutor. 

 Naturally, The Princess isn't happy. She is a princess after all, and The Sage is now making her do all kinds of undignified things! Such as opening a lemonade stand, playing Pussy with a dignitary, and - horrors! - having a trumpet lesson in a swamp! How will The Princess endure? Or, probably a better question, will The King ever get the answer to all his Whys?

 One should know right off this book isn't meant to be taken seriously. It is a fun story which makes little sense, and at the same time makes almost too much sense. (I'm actually not sure if I can explain it very well, so I will just advice you to read it. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you love funny stories.)

 There is so much to love in this book, but I think its most endearing quality is that it is just a fun story. Very often we think we have to read serious stories with deep meaning behind them. Sometimes though what we really need is a book which makes no sense, but just makes us laugh. A kind of light hearted story for those days when Life is especially mean and nothing is going right for us. (And sometimes those stories are very hard to find.)

 One of the best parts of this book is The Sage, who is never late for breakfast, just early for lunch. He was delightful, the kind of character you can love because if you knew him in real life you would cringe whenever he was around.

 He acted like a five-year-old at times and at others he was the only one with any wisdom. (One of my favourite parts was when he ran down the stairs, hugged the Princess and yelled, "MUMMY!" before walking off as if nothing had happened.)

 He kind of reminded me of Howl in many ways. That kind of childish adult who you just had to love even though deep down you had a feeling you should not be able to stand him.

 I also, surprisingly, liked The Princess. She was probably the first, and maybe only, princess I've ever liked. (Like I said, maybe. I think there are others...ah yes, Princess Leia, she is a likable princess.) That said, yes, I liked The Princess a lot.

 The King. I loved The King. Everything about him. How he drew pictures in his porridge and how he could only ask so many Whys? on the weekends.

 Next on my unnumbered list would be The Queen's secluded headaches. Something all Queens should do, it makes life a bit easier when you seclude your headache for an evening when you don't have company coming over.

 And at the same time, there was a kind of underlaying message in the book, one which surprised me. In the beginning the Princess refused to do anything undignified, but by the end of it she found she missed the Sage's insanity when he wasn't around. She began to look at things differently, and to realize life isn't all about acting so much with dignity, but on how much you can help others just by taking time to do things they enjoy. (Actually, this is so well written you don't even notice it, it isn't as if the book was written to teach this. It is just there, hidden and tucked away in a delightful story.) But I think it is still a good point. How often do we act like solemn adults, saying the right things at the right time so everyone will like us when maybe all they really need is a smile and a bit of craziness to brighten their day.
 There, did that make any sense?

 Either way, this is one book I could recommend to everyone. In fact, I think it would be very tragic if you went your whole life without reading it. *Blink blink* (Sorry, there were some statues near by.)

 You can find Anneliese's  blog HERE!!!!