The Lickety-Split Princess

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Winnipeg,
Manitoba.

Dagny Comfort and Megan Canary of The Cherry-Pit Princess (1997) return
in a new adventure. Their previous success with imaginative storytelling
makes entering the Rosie Fryback contest to provide a fantasy ending for
a fairy tale a natural project. Sadly, Dagny’s imagination fails and
her quest for fame suffers a major setback.

Aided by Chris, their “best friend who is a boy,” they embark on a
series of schemes to reactivate Dagny’s skills. Their Great Dictionary
quest only deepens Dagny’s despair and intensifies Megan’s passion
for fame. Acting on Chris’s advice, they gather moon rocks to counter
the forces of gravity, but the rocks flop. They madly write poems, but
their “pickled poems” arranged as a “porch of potted poems”
likewise fail to rekindle the creative juices. Even Fantasy perfume
fizzles.

Time expires and they miss the deadline and their chance at being
famous by getting their picture in the newspaper. To their further
chagrin, Chris earns third place with his hockey fantasy, which the
girls had earlier scoffed at. However, despite their failure to gain
fame, Dagny and Megan succeed in enjoying their final days at Waxwing
Orchards and reap some unexpected benefits. Happily, Dagny regains her
imagination and concludes, “if you had an imagination you could do
just about anything.”

Dagny and Megan’s adventures proceed at a “lickety-split” pace.
Manuel effectively depicts the liveliness of children bouncing from one
emotional high to another. The girl’s words tumble boisterously and
exuberantly, concluding each chapter with a variation on the theme of
“al-most.” Manuel’s command of children’s dialogue sparkles, and
her prose abounds with strong and effective verbs and colorful
descriptors like “zigzaggy, wiggly-wobbly, dawdle-lagging,” which
may defy standard English, but fit. Edlin’s black-and-white
illustrations lend a calming tone to Dagny and Megan’s frenetic
escapades. Recommended.