Book review: The Little Queen

The Little Queen, by Meia Geddes and Sara Zieve Miller (Illustrator)

Description: (from goodreads)

When her mother and father pass away, the little queen must figure out how to be a little queen. And so she begins her adventures, journeying away from her palace and into the world to determine how she should go about going on. The little queen soon encounters numerous folks who teach her a thing or two: the book sniffer, the dream writer, and the architect of silence are just a few. Along the way, the little queen finds friendship, love, and meaning in being a leader in her world. The Little Queen is a magical exploration of self-discovery, vocation, community, and home.

Expected publication: August 1st 2017.
A review copy (eARC) of this book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley. Some things might change in the final copy.

“On a little world, upon a little hill, a little tear fell down a little face. A little girl was now a little queen.”

What a wonderful story I was lucky to read early. That is a book that I wish I could gift to a ton of people, the kind of book that could make almost everybody smile. 

It was first brought to my attention thanks to the tweet linked below. I thought I should give credit where it’s due since I would never have been aware of this lovely tale without it.

THE LITTLE QUEEN by Meia Geddes
– the fairytale you want
– all-women cast
– very lyrical
– by a woc
– f/f ship
– support this book pic.twitter.com/CkiODZcp2M

— 💐 (@diversaesthetic) July 9, 2017

The Little Queen almost feels like a reaction to The Little Prince, because in here there are only female characters, contrary to The Little Prince (still a very nice book) crowded with men, and talking animals/plants/objects, but no women. To people who deeply love The Little Prince, (I know there are a lot of you 😉 ), I would very much recommend to give The Little Queen a chance. It is not the same thing, but I think the nice fuzzy feelings you might have felt reading one might resemble the ones you’ll feel reading the other.

Our little queen goes around her world and meets a lot of different people, all of them using “she” pronouns. They have all imaginative jobs description like book sniffer, plant lotioner, etc. This journey starts on a sad note, since the little queen just lost her parents and tries to find someone to take her place, since she doesn’t feel up to what awaits her. But it quickly becomes a wonderful sweet tale. I wouldn’t call it a fable because it doesn’t really try to teach lessons to the reader with a heavy hand. There are indeed advices and life lessons  to be learned here, but it is done subtly.

This is a tale both about self-discovery and discovery of one’s home, one’s kingdom in this case.

“Indeed, the roof of the library looked to be an enormous page, soft and warmed by the sun. The inside was illuminated by the pretty print of millions of books.”

It is poetic, lyrical. In a way that even subjects like poop and fart are talked about in a super cute and clever way. It seems weird told like that but it really is! This novella also deals with grief and love. I found myself highlighting and bookmarking way too much, almost one every two pages. It is a warm story, a story to cuddle up with, to read alone or with someone, a relative or a friend. While I’m often uncomfortable around children, I really felt the need to read or gift this book to a child.

From friendship, to love, to understanding and learning new things and meeting new different people, this little book manages to accomplish a lot of things in a short number of pages, alongside some super sweet illustrations.

I loved everything about this adorable and charming novella, and since it is suitable for every age I would recommend it to everyone.

“She thought about what all her adventures would come to. She had read stories in which the heroes embarked on journeys and returned home changed, though she did not know if things were going the way they were supposed to go.”

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Take a look at Meia Geddes’s website for an example of the illustrations found in the book and some more quotes!