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| A charmer about the follies of being a windbag. |
Candlewick, 2011
$16.99, ages 3-6, 40 pages
A boastful king is brought down to earth by a maiden who zaps him with a curse that makes his head swell in Van Dusen's hilarious fairy tale.
With playful, clever rhymes and illustrations that pop, the two-time Caldecott winner introduces us to King Hugo, a tiny guy who's a glutton for gloating.
Though Hugo is only three foot three and requires a ladder to reach his throne, he thinks himself much loftier than anyone else.
He struts about, ordering gardeners to clip topiaries to his likeness and sculptors to top fountains with statues of himself in a cocky pose.
His subjects, all longer legged than he, are required to bow to the ground when he passes. For if they bowed at the waist, the king still couldn't look down at them.
And every Friday, King Hugo's guards herd his subjects to the base of his tower and force them to listen to him go on and on about how much the king adores himself and why they should too.
But then one day, as King Hugo's gold coach is rolling down the road from his castle, a maiden walking down the middle of the road refuses to step aside and bow to him.
The maiden, whose name is Tess, is carrying a heavy load of hay on her back and, clearly burdened by it, bluntly tells the king to "go around."
But the king cannot believe her impudence and after a bit of stammering (for no one stands up to him), barges on through.