The Emerald Princess Plays a Trick

Jewel Kingdom #3

by Jahnna N. Malcolm

Princess Emily's latest prank is about to cause big trouble in the Emerald Kingdom!
In the Jewel Kingdom, four girls rule: Roxanne is the Ruby Princess; Emily is the Emerald Princess; Demetra is the Diamond Princess; Sabrina is the Sapphire Princess.

Princess Emily has always loved a good prank. But when one of her subjects is seriously hurt, everyone suspects her. Although she had nothing to do with it, Emily has lost the trust of her people and must find a way to earn it back.

A full sheet of holographic stickers in every book!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Fairy Tales, Magic, Chapter Books

96 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2020

About the author

Jahnna N. Malcolm is the pen name for husband-and-wife team Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner. Together they've written four musicals, two movies, three CD-ROM games, and nearly one hundred books, including the popular series The Jewel Kingdom. They met in the theater and were married on the stage using Marlowe's famous love letter from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" as their wedding vows.

Reviews

[Jessica]

I first read this when I was about 5 and I remember being obsessed with it. It came with a fake emerald necklace? ring? & thus combined the two of the great loves of my life - getting dressed up and reading. (lbr wearing super gaudy jewelry and reading about trickster girls are still two of my favourite things.)

This is a fun read for a young reader - a simple fantasy with touches of whimsy that's not too dark. I was kind of a cliche in that I loved princesses, but what I really loved about this was that Emily wasn't a typical princess. She was playful and she liked to play practical tricks. Back then, I hadn't read about very many princesses who were princessy without being princess-like. Super dug her as a character.

There was one passage that befuddled me then and still befuddles me now:
"You are being such a grump."
"Grump!" Roxanne's jaw dropped open. "Emily, that's a very mean thing to say."

When I first read that as a small child, I honestly thought grump had a secondary, terrible meaning and was a secret swear word. I'm still a little confused about how that's a very mean thing to say.

Honestly, it should be a 4 star read except for 2 nitpicky points as an older reader:
What even kind of a friend is Arden that she doesn't call Emily out & why does she not get an arc where she learns a lesson that friends should support friends, but not always unconditionally?

That. Ending. This may not have been a thing that bothered me when I was 5 but it bothered me to no end as an older reader. Your sister mentioned that the Darklings are the Evil Minions of the Evil Overlord who's been Banished Across The Sea! And now they're back! In your kingdom! Trying to trap your citizens! Do you think! That! Maybe! That's a problem?(!!!!!) Like I know that's a thread that's gonna be picked up in the next 5 books and if our girl Em tortured them for info on their master's plan, this book would get real dark real fast, but still! Make a little effort, Em. At least frown and mention that that's an issue of concern and probably y'all should look into the Dark Lord's possible return instead of just throwing party poppers over Emily's change of heart. You're a princess, Emily. You have duties beyond looking concerned when your gardener bruises his ankle.

Anyways, I'm a grump, sorry, whatever.

[Lizzy Seitz]

5.0 out of 5 stars

Loved these books as a kid and love them still

[Sara]

These were a lot more engaging when I was a lot younger…

[Christie B]

A very good moral attached to a story marred a bit by the gimmicky-ness of the series and that bane of books aimed at girls, the unnecessary description of clothing. Better than I thought it would be, and a good choice for a child to read. It just isn't particularly memorable or special in any way. My daughter chose it as the first book in her book club (she and her dad and I are the members), so I expect I will have to find more to say about it in time for the first meeting!

[Shase Lindell]

This book teaches some important lessons to any readers that would call themselves a prankster as the main character is quickly blamed for the injury of another due to typically being responsible for similar mischief. This book sets up it's themes quickly and rolls through to the end while teaching valuable lessons but lacks the same fantastical feel of the prior books and has a less than engaging plot.

[Rachel Givens]

Emily is a little gremlin. This is true. We see her learning the consequences of her actions when she takes pranks too far and hurts her friends and family emotionally. We get one of the darkest implied Lord Bleak schemes yet (capturing residents of the Greenwood to take as slaves), and it makes me all the more excited for when Bleak shows his face at long last. Emily does the right thing in the end, and she gets a nice moment of self-sacrifice that warmed my heart.

The Greenwood biome isn't as fun to imagine as Blue Lake, but what is? Blue Lake was always going to be the winner. The new characters we're introduced to are fun - though, ahaha, did anyone else get the vibe that when they said Fluke and Staghorn were "good friends," they meant a little more than good friends? No? Just me? Okay. Anyway, Arden is great by virtue of the fact that she brings unicorns into the Jewel Kingdom mythos. It ain't a fun kids' fantasy series without a unicorn or two!

I'm also impressed by the magic artifact Emily possesses this time around. After Roxanne's invisibility shield came with no strings attached and Sabrina's flying powder only being limited by how much she has on her, Emily's is the first that actually requires strategy. Or, as is more often the case with Emily, dealing with the consequences of not strategizing. The magic pan flute will change her size, but she has to stay that way - tall or small - until the sun either rises or sets. I like that. It adds more stakes and complexity.

My one complaint is I don't think they make it clear what species Fluke is. The prose just described him as a man, so I assumed human, but later, when the Darklings set up the Bleak trap for him, they specifically say it will work because it can hold a dwarf, so is Fluke a dwarf? It doesn't matter in the long run. I just like to have clear mental images. I guess he can be whatever we want him to be so long as he has the requisite gray beard.

[Brian Wilkerson]

A cute story about a nice and mischievous girl learning about empathy. It's fairly straightforward, being as it is for very young readers, but there is also some complexity here.

Princess Emily is not a mean person. Her pranks are not in the least bit malicious. They are just harmless fun, and that is what Princess Emily thinks they are, moments of fun playing around with her friends. She is sincerely shocked that her friends/subjects don't enjoy her pranks and were just playing along because she has a higher social status than them.

Thus, the immediate and explicit moral of the story is to practice empathy and read between the lines in one's relations with others, but there is another moral here. It is thus, "When someone does something that bothers you, just tell them". The only person in this story who straight-up tells Princess Emily to knock it off with the pranks is her cousin and fellow-princess, Roxanne. Even Arden, Princess's Emily advisor, has to be pushed by Roxanne to be honest.

This moral works because Princess Emily is a nice girl, not a bully. Telling an actual bully to stop would be less likely work because their motivation is different. The story makes this distinction. At the very start of the story, Princess Emily hugs Staghorn after pranking him and thanks him for being a good sport, because she thought that's what he was doing. She later tells Arden that she thinks of Staghorn as her grandfather, and so she doesn't want to upset him or have him be angry at her.

There's every reason to believe that if Staghorn had just told her the truth right then, she would have apologized. She probably wouldn't have stopped with the pranks, but she would have realized that he didn't enjoy that particular prank.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Jewel Kingdom - the Emerald Princess Plays a Trick" an A+

[Stacy]

Childhood classic

[Amoose Bush]

The story wasn't very memorable but I thought the main character was spunky and funny as a kid.

[Jordan MacKinnon]

Another excellent edition to this series! I really love how it was very a she called wolf series with a twist! Also how delightful the Emerald Kingdom sounds with so many adorable creatures!!!

[Kristi Drake]

Cute book It is also a great learning tool. That people really don't like tricks plan on them.

[Liana]

I've learnt a lot of things from this book:

1. Don't play pranks on people for your own amusement.
2. Don't scare people for your own amusement.
3. Don't be stupid.
4. If you do all those things above, nobody will like you... AND if someone gets hurt because of you, nobody will believe that you didn't hurt them on purpose.

Princess Emily did all of that, and now she has to suffer a terrible consequence! She didn't mean to hurt one of her people, in fact, she isn't even the one to blame... :o

This was a very enjoyable story.~

[Twyla]

Emily plays tricks and on one of these chapters the guy who she tricks gets hurt from the darklings traps. My favorite part was the end of the book when she learned to never play tricks on anyone again. Auryn 7yo

[Madelyn]

I loved every word of it. But it is much like the boy who cried wolf.
If you lie and play tricks on people for too long, you lose their trust and
many people know that when someones loses trust in you,
that trust is very hard to get back. You need to do something quite heroic
to get it back.

[Dawnetta]

If your child can read at this level it would be a good book. A fun beginning fantasy series. The plot lines are simple and easily solved with not too much of the dark side of fantasy.

[Brittany]

These books are great to grow up on. All little girls around the age of 8 (younger or older) should read at least one book about each of the four princesses.

[Tatum]

this book is fun and createve it gives you good amashanashan.

[Deanne]

I loved reading these when I was young!

[Laura Gagnon]

love

[Ali]

Emily didn't mean to hurt anyone.

Emily loves playing tricks on the people of greenwood forest. But then an elf gets hurt! Who's going to believe she didn't do it this time?

[Jacquelyn Fusco]

I read this about 15 or 16 years ago probably. I loved it. It came with a fake Emerald ring. One of the first books I read for pleasure.

[Sophie]

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[Marie-Loui V.]

Read this book as a child and read it again after I found it in a storage box. Still a charming, imaginative little book. Excellent series to read to children.

[Cws]

BR-Mal

[Celia]

A favorite series of mine when I was little.

[Alicia Bradford]

I loved the entire series! The Emerald Princess was always one of my favorites.

[E]

Loved this book as a child, but could never find the rest of the series. Oh well, too late now. :D