The Princess Blankets

by Carol Ann Duffy, Catherine Hyde (Illustrator)

A young princess who can never feel warm. A worried king and queen. A stranger in black with hard gray eyes. A musician with a kind and good heart. Carol Ann Duffy’s powerful new fairy tale explores the depths of human fears, frailty, and love, complemented by a series of beautiful, atmospheric paintings by acclaimed artist Catherine Hyde. Compelling, lyrical, magical — this is the tale of THE PRINCESS'S BLANKETS.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Fantasy

40 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

Dame Carol Ann Duffy, DBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009.

She is the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly LGBT person to hold this position.

Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence, in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools.

Reviews

[Hilary]

I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second. The telling of the story was good, the illustrations were subtle and drew you in to the fairy tale feel. I liked the mystery of the princess that couldn't get warm and the descriptions of the blankets. I didn't like the way that her parents let someone she found creepy be allowed into her bedchamber despite her feelings and allowed to marry her if he warmed her up, yuk I also felt that the conclusion was disappointing when she found love she was happy and warmed up But fairy tales often have messages of this sort.

[Mir]

Unusual and rather dark story of a princess who can never get warm (why, we never learn) and a creepy stranger who denudes the natural world in his effort to win her as a prize.

The painterly illustrations are excellent if somewhat abstract. I have a difficult time assessing how much children would like either story or illustrations.

It's a shame that my library system has only Duffy's picture books and none of the adult poetry for which she is rightly better known.

[Monsterful Reads]

A beautiful story that is complemented by ethereal illustrations, the Princess’ Blanket is a tale of a princess who is always cold. Her parents, the King and Queen are worried that se will never warm up and after many failed attempts the King announces to his kingdom that he will reward anybody ‘…any manner they chose, even unto half his kingdom,’ to help his daughter. People come from far and wide to try and help but still nothing works.

I really enjoyed this book because it is so different from most other children’s books; the story still follows a traditional story line of a princess in need but the way Duffy tells it is what brings the story alive. It’s not the dashing prince that rescues the princess and that’s what makes this story so magical. There is no misleading girls into a fantasy romance with a guy that doesn’t exist. The story is beautifully told and is definitely one for the collection.

[Busy Mummy]

Enjoyed this unusual modern fairy tale about princess who cannot get warm and nothing can seem to warm the cold princess. I found it quite dark and sinister but the text itself offers great vocabulary and sentence structures for exploring with upper key stage 2 children to support their descriptive writing skills.

[Rachel]

A dark fairy tale, telling the story of a princess who is always cold. Haunting, mysterious, acrylic paintings by Catherine Hyde create illustrations to a cleverly told tale, which through text inference can be viewed as an allegory of the waste of the earth's resources.

[Adele Broadbent]

(A sophisticated picture book by an author whose work is widely studied in UK schools.) This story is overflowing with beautiful paintings by Catherine Hyde telling the story of a Princess who is always cold. No matter what her parents or the kingdom does for her, she cannot warm up. A stranger comes to visit claiming he can fix this, but his cold grey eyes and his remedies just make everything worse.
Months later, a musician comes across the bleak kingdom and meets the shivering princess, and through music and love, warmth returns to her and her kingdom.

A new fairy tale told in beautiful prose and many doublespread illustrations.

[Chicco Padovan]

Viveva un tempo una principessa che aveva sempre freddo. Suo padre le aveva donato i vestiti più caldi per coprirsi, ma ciò nonostante la fanciulla continuava a tremare. Poi un giorno arrivò al palazzo uno sconosciuto dai gelidi occhi di pietra e un mantello nero come la notte…

Stupenda! Una nuova fiaba classica dalle atmosfere scure, una scrittura a tratti lirica e l’inconfondibile gusto del C’era una volta. Il tutto sublimato dalle opere pittoriche di Catherine Hyde. Un libro prezioso, raffinato, per tutti gli appassionati di fiabe illustrate e non solo.

[Kirjapallo]

A lyrical story of a princess who is always cold. A man with hard eyes tries to warm her with blankets of ocean, forest, mountain and earth, but they only make everything worse. Then comes a flute player who falls in love with the princess.

The story has that feeling of an ancient fairy tale and some mental images are quite gruesome, so I wouldn't recommend this to very young children.

[Jackie]

A beautiful book to give as a gift to children but also for adults. Stunning illustrations and as ever from Carol Ann Dufy, word perfect.

[Maryam Sabbar-Yates]

This fairy tale was beautifully written but had a dark and sinister theme running through it. Catherine Hyde’s paintings fitted excellently with the book and were elegant yet simplistic and encourage the reader to use their imagination.
As an adult I really enjoyed the book and think it would be best suited to upper KS2. The descriptions and imagery in the book were excellent and I think this would spark a great discussion among a class.

[Niquilla Blodgett]

I liked the paintings in the book because they were so unique for a children's novel. This may be a good book for primary grades because it is a folk story, but there is no educational value to have it read to older grade levels. It follows a classic theme of a princess being in distress to have the right man come and save her in the end.

[Helena]

The story has beautiful illustrations, reminds me of the renaissance period of art.
The story of the princess is rather interesting, it did keep me intrigued thinking "what will happen next"- however I do think with some of the descriptions of hands being cut and scratched... and characters possibly being buried alive... I think would make it more suitable for the older primary children.

[Christina Reid]

This book is a work of art, both in the language of the darkly imagined fairytale and the beautiful illustrations. I could see older children or adults getting more out of this that young children as the story is quite strange, leaving many things up to the reader to decide.

[James Koppert]

A lit if books claim to be a new fairy tale but this one is in the truest of traditions. It's masterfully told with the most amazing renaissance style paintings as illustrations. An incredible and beautiful book.

[Rebecca Gale]

Although I enjoyed the writing skill and imaginative creations involved in this book, including the unique and beautiful illustrations, I found myself astonished at the message portrayed and the adult themes implied. Does a women really need a man to complete her?

[Becky]

This is an unusual fairy tale that seems quite sinister at the beginning. The illustrations supporting it are quirky but beautiful. The text is easy to follow and understand. However, I did not enjoy the story overall. It seemed slow throughout with no depth or excitement.

[Grace Duthie]

* I, personally, did not find the story gripping or in any way exciting.
* Great descriptive writing used throughout, based on imagination and wonder.
* Could lead to an art project based on drawing our own blankets to depict what makes us feel warm.
* Highlights the power of music and love

[Molly Spooner]

Whilst both beautifully written and illustrated, I didn't feel that this was a story that imparts good messages to impressionable young readers. I had hoped that the cure to her always being cold was that perhaps she needed a friend or someone to make her laugh.

[Jenny Sackin]

Beauitful illustrations

[Jake]

Can be used to look at different characters and their personalities within a fairy tale setting.

[Valerie Crump]

It was okay. My children got bored halfway through. It was too boring for them, and too ridiculous for me. (And I am a lover of the far fetched.)

[Claire]

Beautifully written and illustrated.

[Bex Allum]

This book is gloomy and sad until the happy ending. With beautiful artwork it really helps the reader to imagine the story and weight of the blankets surrounding the princess.

[Amy Softley]

An unusual fairytale with beautiful illustrations

[Melanie MYD]

A strange fairy story about a very cold princess and the need to appreciate what you have.

Beautifully illustrated.

[Charlotte Marshall]

An imagination, but dark fairytale. The illustrations are great. Story did not completely appeal to me.

[Leaflet]

A very simple fairy tale with gorgeous Catherine Hyde illustrations. The tale itself begs for fleshing out.

[Vicki Wong]

The text is beautifully written, accompanied by ethereal illustrations. But I don’t find the story particularly compelling. Feels like an out-of-date princess-meets-prince fairytale.

[Vera Milena]

Beautiful illustrations and a lovely story that makes you appreciate the natural world. The story is about the importance of nature, as well as that love is the greatest thing.

[Kat]

Basic Plot: A typical fairy tale with a princess in distress who must be rescued.

What makes this story interesting is how she is rescued, which is a bit different from the typical. The story is excellent, but the art was a bit odd. Very conceptual and "artsy" for a children's book. Read it in one quick sitting while my son was playing at the train table at the public library.