The Princess and the Pit Stop, by Tom Angleberger and Dan Santat

Perhaps you’re getting sick of the way I promote Dan Santat, maybe you even think he’s my relative, but no, I just genuinely love his illustrations and think every child should be exposed to his genius. This recently published (July 2018) large picture book is so visually stimulating that kids will love it from endpaper to endpaper.

We are still seeing reports that children’s books are dominated by boys, men and male characters. When female characters are present, often they don’t take the lead, they don’t direct the story, and too often they don’t even speak. And while this female lead character doesn’t speak until the last page, the story is very clearly all about her.

The storyline of The Princess and the Pit Stop is pretty simple, the Princess is in a car race and wants to win. But she is in last place and there is a whole hoard of fairytale folk for her chase down. Older kids will love to see new incarnations of some of the staples of children’s literature. Characters like the three little pigs, the seven dwarfs and the four and twenty blackbirds among other un-numbered folks. There are witches, a dragon, a giant and a gingerbread man all in vehicles that (while being fun to look at) just can’t compete with the Princess.

This is a really fun read that features a lead female character making her own choices and chasing her own dreams. But when it comes down to it I can’t say how much I love the illustrations!!!