Chloe’s Secret Princess Club
may be about three girls who want to become princesses, but at heart, this
book is really about the fun of imaginative play and friendship.
With plenty of fantasy
books about, one can only be glad to find a story set so clearly within the real
world of everyday family situations, and where the young characters have
ordinary hopes and childish aspirations.
Also - and a personal response
here – I was rather pleased to discover the book was not
in a diary format, but presented in fourteen chapters with a few essential lists. The book very much reminded of Beverley Cleary’s Ramona stories,
where the focus is all about the central character learning to cope with the
smaller bumps of everyday life.
At first, dreamyhead Chloe Higgins
keeps her Princess plans to herself. Then, when she sees that the school store-cupboard
door is unlocked, she can’t help peeping inside, just in case it is a Portal to
Another World and so ends up sticking her bewigged head out of the window, asking
for help. Chloe is teased as “Rapunzel” but the incident leads to Chloe and
two other girls forming a very Secret Club as they all have a secret wish to become princesses: princesses of the kind and graceful variety, not of the obnoxious, fame-seeking sort. Having had a daughter who loved dressing up, I felt this girlish longing was very well and positively handled within the writing.
After all,it's not an unreasonable wish because Chloe’s mum has
definitely told her that “you can be anything you
want to be if you believe in it and work hard” - although Mum was talking about Chloe concentrating on Mental Maths at the
time!
The author Emma Barnes has created an
attractive trio of characters: introducing impulsive, freckle-faced Chloe, shy Aisha, her long-time
best friend, and over-achieving Eliza. She demonstrates the complexity of the
modern child’s life too. Meeting up after school is not a simple task: during
the week, Chloe has after-school swimming and baking, Aisha goes to classes at
the mosque, and Eliza has lessons in trumpet, tap-dancing and karate as well as
her Friday family supper. The easy culture mix familiar to an urban child of today is a particular strength of Emma Barnes' storytelling.
The three girls do manage to get together for
their “Secret Princess Club” after-school meetings and activities in each
others houses, where they enjoy creating special rules and secret handshakes as
well as writing everything down in their official unicorn notebook, which eventually leads to a serious misunderstanding.
As the chapters progress, the girls try to learn the
skills of being princesses, within their available context. Their dance tuition
comes via a DVD of ballroom lessons, their beautiful outfits are clothes and
scarves from Chloe’s mother’s wardrobe, and their rescuing of lost kittens
involves taking a rather elderly cat back up the street to its neighbour. Plans
rarely go quite as the girls imagine but although the adults who are around in
the background of the story are sometimes upset they are usually kindly, in a
busy working way. The Secret Club’s biggest worry is that Chloe’s twin brother,
snooping Arthur and his best friend Mikhail will spread their secret back at school.
Although the “Princesses”- also
know as Clorinda, Araminta and Elisabetta - are playing their roles and
living their challenges seriously, one senses they know the limits of their
game. The book is not about big time riches or fame and most of the dressing-up
involved is creative rather than hugely materialistic. The big argument, when
it arrives, grows from a visit by Egyptian history experts to the school, and
the three girls learning about the “Princess” Cleopatra. Despite the following arguments
and anguish (and a lonely bath in asses milk) the three princesses learn more
about each others real-life hopes and dreams and the need to be kinder to each
other.
“Most
of all we have stuck together and had fun!”
It’s worth noting that the
back of this book contains a character-linked personality quiz, a jam tart
recipe and suggestions for creating you own clubs, as well as a welcome stress
on the fact that a club can be about whatever a child is interested in and not
necessarily princesses: a well-made point! I'm wondering if there will be another kind of Chloe Club or a return of the Princesses Club in a further book.
The Secret Princess Club has
an appealing real-life charm and offers an amusing and comforting story,
whether as a bedtime book for a young reader or shared on the sofa with a
grown-up, possibly stirring tales of their own childhood games.
As Chloe’s mother says: “A
bit of imagination is a wonderful thing.”
And there is a hamster.
And a frog.
Penny Dolan.
.
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