Princess Pulverizer 3 – Bad Moooove!

Nancy Krulik's Bad Moooove is a cheesy (in the best way) knight adventure for 7 year olds about a princess who needs a good deed and a village with no milk.

What happens

Princess Pulverizer doesn't want to be a princess at all. She wants to be a knight! Her dad, the king, says she can go to Knight School once she's done eight good deeds on a Quest of Kindness. She's done two, which leaves six to go, and she's getting VERY impatient.

Luckily she has help. Dribble is a dragon who only uses his fire to make grilled cheese sandwiches, which is why the other dragons threw him out. Lucas is a knight-in-training who is scared of almost everything, from the dark to bumblebees.

This time the trio arrive in Ire-Mire-Briar-Shire, which used to be the cheese capital of the kingdom. Someone has taken every last cow, sheep and goat. No milk means no cheese, and no cheese means one very outraged dragon.

Things go wrong almost straight away. While the princess and Lucas are having a sneaky go at milking some cows, a huge pink-haired troll drops a net over them. He carries them off to his cave, where a griffin keeps watch, and starts planning a princess-and-potato soup!

It's silly and quick, with short chapters and loads of jokes. There are cheese puns everywhere (an "udder failure", anyone?). There's a magic sword that wobbles when someone tells a lie, and a ruby ring that makes the princess's footsteps silent. And there's a monster that has to be read to be believed, since it's made entirely out of stinky cheese.

The princess herself is a lot of fun. She's bossy and brave and always sure she knows best. Dribble isn't afraid to tell her when she's being selfish, either. Is she helping people because she cares, or just to get closer to her armour? She's still working that one out, and it's a nice little thread running under all the slapstick.

It's a great fit if you've got a child who likes their fairy tales turned upside down and doesn't mind a bit of gross-out humour (yes, there's a very windy griffin).

What to read next

Grilled Cheese and Dragons is the very first adventure, where the princess gives herself her new name and meets Dribble and Lucas.