I absolutely loved this book growing up, and I make sure to look at it again at least once a year. The art alone would have me coming back, never mind the ending.
The book starts out with the title Princess Elizabeth and her Prince Ronald, dressed in their best gown and hybrid tennis/medieval ensemble respectively. Which is when the dragon bursts onto the scene, kidnapping the prince and burning everything the princess has, including the clothing on her back.
(I do have to give points to the dragon for gender-equal kidnapping; why should princesses be the only ones to get carried off? Though really Roland? You’re being carried off and you still hold onto your tennis racket? Priorities my dear boy; at the least try and swat the dragon with it!)
Taking a “if you want something done, better do it yourself” attitude, our intrepid heroine throws on a paper bag and goes off to her prince back. After some clever work in defeating the dragon, she discovers that maybe wanting is not necessarily having. Trust me, everything you need to know about this prince is in his facial expression on the first page.
I loved this book because it had such an atypical ending; instead of the usual “and they rode off into the sunset happily ever after”, it has Elizabeth walking off happy; who cares about Ronald’s happiness? As she so eloquently puts it:
You can only hope that seeing as the dragon is not dead just tired, maybe he and Roland stay in that cave being condescending and bums together.