Bright illustrations that are very detailed and simple text is what is found on the pages of Johan Troianowski’s The Runaway Princess graphic novel. Keeping with the European feel of other books in this standalone series, and the author themselves, this time we have a story that is part Pipi Longstocking meets Swiss Family Robinson meets Dora the Explorer meets Tangled if Rapunzel was a 10-year-old (or younger) girl.
The book is broken into separate adventures with connecting but each with their own complete stories. Humor and literary (some more obvious than others) references flood the book. This book has its moments, but not always ones I was getting behind. Yet, I liked this book. Sometimes things were a bit slower than I would have liked, but other times there is the perfect pace. There is some romance (or actually more puppy love), there is adventure, references to pirates who also drink a “potion” that makes them “zombie like” and wild, one trippy carnival and little creatures that grow the longer their hair gets (all you have to do is give them a hair cut and they shrink). Reality is completely suspended (one flying queen? Check.) and yet, believable.
This book, while aimed at 10 to 14-year-olds, will not be for every 10 to 14-year-old. While nothing is “too out there” compared to what we have today in other books, television and movies, it has a different feeling when it is on the page. I recommend reading this with a child or first, then giving to your child.