The Princess Who Laughed in Colours

Teya Rosenberg is an assistant professor of English specializing in
children’s literature at Southwest Texas State University.

Princess Winona is beautiful and kind, and her laughter makes people
think of rainbows. Because she is so wonderful, she threatens a
neighboring queen, who hires a magician to do something awful to her.
One morning Winona wakes up in the frozen north and somehow knows that
the only way she can get home is to change the white cold into colors
and warmth. Luckily, some whales, frost flies, and bears dance for her.
She dances with them and is so happy, she laughs colors into the frozen
wasteland. Miraculously transported home, Winona always remembers her
northern friends, who come to visit each year, which is why there is
winter. The moral, it seems, is be happy and laugh.

This book does not provide enough logic or believability to be the
fairy tale it strives to be. The ire of the neighboring queen and the
presence of the magician are too quickly passed over, and why Winona
should be saved, other than for her beauty and laughter, is unclear. She
is passive, shifted around by unknown forces and doing little other than
laughing. The moral is banal, and the illustrations, though quite
lovely, contribute little to the story. Not recommended.