Overruled! My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess by Heath McKenzie

"MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, I WANT TO BE A PRETTY PRINCESS."

No sooner has the girl in the lavender tutu finished her wish than, without even a POOF! or a Bibbibety-Boppety--Boo, a pretty princess in a fluffy white dress appears before her and asks if she really, really wants princess training.

"GASP! Oh, I DO!"

In no time the princess wannabe finds herself being laced in to wasp-waisted white gown. Now she's gasping for real!

Her hair is done up in a tiara-friendly beehive and she's slathered with makeup.

"BUT I LOOK A BIT BOR---"

No time for girl-talk. It's tea time for pretty princesses. Whispering that the rules for pretty princesses require that they don't get their gowns dirty and that they don't actually eat any of the goodies on the tea table, and that they certainly don't boogie down with the music, her royal mentor tells her what all of this is REALLY all about.

"NOW WE MUST WAIT FOR... OUR PRINCES."

They wait... and wait... and wait... and wait.

YAWN!

A handsome prince arrives, along with an overdressed, freckle-faced princeling who sticks out his tongue at his presumed "princess bride."

Our princess apprentice suddenly knows more than she ever wanted to know about being a princess.

In her first and last royal decree, our girl over-rules the rules, especially that deal-killing last one--

WAIT FOR A HANDSOME PRINCE.

Herth McKenzie's My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess (Sourcebook/Jabberwocky, 2015) has a lot of fun with the down-side of princessing, with plenty of visual humor in the double-page spread in which the two bored princesses try to stay PERFECT while they wait for their royal suitors to show up.

Pair this reluctant royal with Carmen LaVigna Coyle's Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?

Great Expectations! I Wanna Be A Great BIG Dinosaur! by Heath McKenzie

"MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD, I WANT TO BE A GREAT BIG DINOSAUR!"

A precocious preschooler has big aspirations! And it fortunately this must be his lucky day, a terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex appears to be his mentor! Gasp!

"YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING TO A BE A GREAT BIG DINOSAUR?

FIRST, YOU MUST . . .

ROAR!"

And once the boy masters roaring, his tutor demonstrates. . .

"STOMPING!"

Roaring and stomping are great fun, and the boy and his visitor have a good go at both. But then the T. Rex brings up another required behavior.

"EAT!

LOTS OF MEAT!"

His mentor demonstrates, devastating the provisions in the fridge.

"JUST MEAT?"

The boy tries to distract his dinosaur pal with some alternative and less carnivorous activities--eating pizza, reading, soccer, video games? To his dismay the dino takes to all of them, He has a great time, without a single roar or stomp! The kid can't even get him to stop gaming. He suggests that maybe it's time for his guest to go home for dinner.

But T. Rex looks heartbroken. Sadly he confesses that his secret wish, He just wants to be...

A LITTLE BOY!

And in Heath McKenzie's I Wanna Be a Great Big Dinosaur (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky Press, 2015), there's soon a compromise in the works. Romping, stomping, and roaring is fun for kids, but a T. Rex needs a little variety in his life, too, and a little ice cream, a good read, and a bit of fun playing pirate or spaceman is a nice change of pace for a sauropod! Heath McKenzie's ebullient illustrations add to the fun in this meeting-of-the-minds playdate which offers exercise for the imagination along with plenty of active playacting.

Pair this one with McKenzie's equally exuberant wish-fulfillment fantasy on the distaff side, My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess. (See my 2015 review here.)