Chumbalina is a plump princess, and overlooked in favour of the prettier ones. When a giant invades the kingdom however, brains might win out over outer beauty, and the good-hearted princess may find a way to save her kingdom that more conventional ladies would not.

I admit to approaching this with some concern, expecting this book to be mainly fat jokes, and frankly had to hope it wasn’t as mean-spirited as some I had read. Instead it was a rather sweet little fable with perhaps a little too much emphasis on accepting people as they are (note that they don’t accept the people-eating giant for who he is).

I love the illustrations, which are full colour on every page. This could cause a problem for some readers as the text is embedded and not resizable, but it is clearly legible.

The message that it is alright to live on sweets is not really one you want to give a child, but Chumbalina learns that there are times when you have to eat things you don’t like. At the same time it is obvious to an older reader that Chumbalina is a very unhappy child, and eating is the only thing that makes her happy. A child may take this at face value but, oh, did I want to slap her parents by page 14.

One notable mispelling made dancing sound more like something that comes out of your nose – if children spot this, they will love it.

A short story with a princess who saves the day, makes new friends and becomes the toast of the kingdom? With gorgeous pictures? There are little girls out there who will adore this, especially since she doesn’t change who she is to do it.