I would like to find a children’s picture book checked out from library in the early 90’s (most likely published then but possibly in 80’s), about a woman who was ugly/plain and wanted to be beautiful so the prince would marry her. A little old man with a raisin looking face peddled her a potion but told her only to take it sparingly and it would make her pretty. She did and then got vain and took it all, and became beautiful but ugly on the inside. She was mean to the raisin face man and I think he turned out to be the prince under a curse and she didn’t end up with him after all. Was a colorful picture book.
Not the book titled Sleeping Ugly.
Tag Archives: prince
374Y: The Prince’s Love Triangle
Here is my description of the book:
Borrowed from library mid 1990s, a children’s picturebook. It’s title may have the word “love” in it.
A little prince character called something like “Prince Curlique” (but I’m not sure of the spelling) because of his crazy hair/a curl (sticks up?) on his head.
He’s really smart but short or ugly or some unfortunate attribute.
He might get lonely and seek a girlfriend at some point, has sort of a love triangle with two princesses who are sisters trying to decide which one to marry(?)
He’s prone to being a bit harsh and testing his potential love interests if iirc
One princess is called Mira or Myra because she is an admirable yet unattractive genius level smart girl. She is the obvious match but his heart leans in other directions. The other princess is called Dora because she is an adorable hottie, she is however cursed with being clumsy and possibly unintelligent? Or inarticulate?
The ugly little prince curlicue guy and one or other of the princesses are pictured on a swing or seat together maybe on the final page?
The illustrations are very whimsical and to my memory lush and detailed, with historic rococo style maybe.
There is one page with a drapey princess canopy bed i think? The book starts with some of the characters as babies?
It’s kind of inappropriately romantic for kids in a way like that naked squashed fairy book from the same era because it’s about characters falling in romantic love with each other and the relationship stuff.
I think Mira/Myra is in love with Curlicue but I don’t think she prevails because of not being hot like her sister. I think one or other sister is also grossed out by him and that might have had moral repercussions.
There is some witchcraft involved possibly but more like the hand of fate because I don’t remember an antagonist.
I think Dora was Dancing and stepping on people’s toes because she was so clumsy
Curlicue had red or blond hair.
Any of these remembered details may be somewhat incorrect.
If I had to make comparisons, the alt love story of “Jane and the Dragon” is a well known one that’s vibe has similar whimsy. I think Myra was quite a roll-up-your-sleeves and get it done person and the art was similarly soft and evocative. The writing was dreamy and aphoristic, possibly why the story has not stayed on the shelves. But also something dark and sad about the characters’ difficulties finding love.
I know beautifully illustrated kids storybooks are on high turnover in my library now, but they did have it once, would they have a record of decades-back purchased, now cancelled, books? Also I’m not sure if the high turnover was as rapid in the mid to late 1990s as it is today, so conceivably this book was 1980s at the earliest and just hung out on the shelf not getting borrowed much. The style would not have been any earlier based on the production techniques and the fact it was a fresh edition that we borrowed (but now so unknown to the internet that it must not have had many reissues if any)
I think that’s all I can think of that’s relevant. I would have said the book had a square format, normal picture book length and possibly a soft cover no dust jacket? I’d have said slightly gloss paper rather than matte But I could be wrong about the soft cover.No idea of the publisher. If I had to guess would have thought the author might be American rather than British but that’s not a strong conviction.
I have a feeling the name curlicue is a total red herring and it may have been “Prince Quiff” or similar. But it related to his hair and unfortunate looks. The love interests’ names I’m more confident of because of their in-narrative meanings.
370N: Cutting the String that Binds
This is a book set in Wales, a lot of focus on the Moors of Wales. Possibly a YA love story book. About a royal and a civilian… I believe a prince and a “common” girl. One of the characters, I believe the girl, talks of a string that connects the two together and somewhere in the story the string gets cut.
361L: Prince Pip and His Oranges
The first book I ever loaned from a library in Ireland has special meaning to me but I have been unable to find it since. I was about 6/7 years old. All I can remember is that there was a Prince Pip and there were oranges in his kingdom (??).
358P: Originally Reluctant Woman Frees Prince
I have used several other places, and have had no luck with this one.
It is a high fantasy type of book that takes place entirely in the fantasy world. It definitely seems like the beginning of a series. I vaguely remember it being written by a female Australian author and I believe it was published in the mid-later 1990s or early 2000’s. It was a trade paperback that I checked out from the library. The cover was a simple cover, not a complicated/traditional fantasy one.
It starts with a young woman working in her family’s inn/tavern and then she gets swept up with a prince who later gets imprisoned and who she frees at the end. At the beginning, she has a bad opinion of him, but then she travels to some place where he is getting ready for battle I think and gets to know him better. I believe there is magic based on elemental powers. I remember that she has to work with elemental beings, and they start learning to work together. At the end she ends up going to the castle where the prince is imprisoned and she frees him.
355N: Selfish Prince
352U: Beast Prince and Locked Door
It’s a children’s book from around the 1990’s. The main heroine travels to cure the curse of the Beast Prince. I think he had the head of a pig/boar. The plot is similar to East of the Sun, West of the Moon but that is not the book. Near the end the heroine must unlock a door but lost the key. She must cut off her finger and use it as the key instead.
347S: Emperor’s Son Cleans Up His Brother’s Elemental Messes
I got this book when the author came to my elementary school in Maryland in the early 1990s. The book is about an emperor who has to decide which of his (twin?) sons will succeed him. He challenges them both to go recover each of the 5 elements and bring them back to him. The first rash son runs ahead and steals each element leaving angry people and wreaking havoc. The second son cleans up each of his brother’s messes and then is gifted the element. He uses that element to fix his brother’s destruction at the next stop (ex. using water to put out fire). The other notable feature of the book is the illustrations – the illustrator used intricate cutout silhouettes.
347L: A Japanese Boy Turns Into a Peach
I am looking for a book from my childhood (1975-1985). It had the most beautiful detailed pictures. I remember each one like a painting of another word. It’s about a Japanese prince … He flies up to the gods. Then I think there’s something about dragons … I think he turns into a peach and ends up flying over the land.
Not this book
https://www.amazon.com/Peach-Japanese-Childrens-Favorite-Stories/dp/4805309962
Or this book
The pictures were so beautiful. I hope you can find it.
347J: Emperor’s son’s birthday wish is for all citizens to shout at same time but no one does
This is a book I bring up endlessly when fretting about voting patterns and bystander effect. I no longer can believe whether I really read this book as a small child or not! I recall that it took place in an Asian nation, illustrations were styled after Chinese landscape painting, I recall lots of red color. The emperor's son wants for his birthday to hear what it sounds like when everyone in the nation shouts out at the same time. Horse-riding messengers are sent all over the land to inform the populace to comply, but when the time comes to shout as one, everyone assumes that someone else will do it, so the end result is no one shouts and there is silence over the land.