The Princess and the Goblin

Title: The Princess and the Goblin
Author: George Macdonald
Illustrator: Arthur Hughes
Ages: 8-12
Rating: 3/5

Plot: Princess Irene lives in a castle with a lot of servants, but no mother or father. One day while exploring the castle Irene finds her great-grandmother, meanwhile inside the mountain a young miner overhears a plot to kidnap the princess.

Assessment: The narration style of this novel is one of the most entertaining parts of the story. Often the narrator is a character of the story all its own, and gives the reader the feeling of an orally told story rather than a print one.

With magic and goblins and trickery, this story seems set to captivate readers, however Princess Irene and Curdie are often so morally good or so polite -even correcting the adults who care for them, that they become annoying. The characters (including the narrator) are too often trying to teach children proper manners that the story often slows almost to a stop.

Macdonald, G. (1972). The Princess and the Goblin. Toronto, ON: Puffin Classics.