The Oldest Rivalry! The Evil Princess Vs.The Brave Knight by Jennifer L. Holm (Vs. Matthew Holm)

In a modest medieval castle dwelt a fair-featured but evil princess and a maddeningly exemplary good knight. They shared a castle.

They shared a manky cat.

But there were issues.

The Evil Princess has a definite ignoble streak. Princess Iniquitous knows just how to time a well-placed royal slipper to trip up her rival, Mr. Nicey-Nicey Knight.

The Good Knight protests innocence to the Magic Mirror. He is merely dutifully patrolling the castle. That's what a good knight does, to which his rival responds....

That's what as evil princess does!

This twosome know just how to pull each other's chains.

Sent to their respective bed chambers by their nanny, Magic Mirror, the two plan their strategies, the Knight sulking at the injustice of it all, and the Princess planning malicious spells to perpetrate on her uber-righteous rival. But being evil or guiltless is no fun alone. For that they each need each other!

WE NEED a QUEST! proclaims the Princess.

And the two manage to cooperate in rescuing a damsel in distress in the moat (actually their cranky cat whom they dunk in their bathtub). The Good Knight is valiant in a daring rescue of the feline from the rubber ducky moat monsters, but The Evil Princess can't resist giving the happy hero a malicious shove into the suds. The Good Knight may be brave, but he's not so virtuous as to forego grabbing the Princess by the hair and sousing her in the suds, too. All's fair in love and war.

And neither one of them is a bit sorry, in that picture book sister-and-brother pair Jennifer and Matthew Holm's latest, The Evil Princess vs. the Brave Knight (Book 1) (Random House, 2019). Three-time Newbery winner Jennifer Holm's author chops are audacious, while her little brother Matthew holds his own in the art department, making for a mischievous story that's told skillfully by this sibling pair who probably know a thing or two about sister-brother rivalries. Says School Library Journal, "This enjoyable tale will be a hit where parents need to make quarreling kids see the funny side of their battles."