The Mammoth Adventure

Philippa Gregory's The Mammoth Adventure is a funny fairytale adventure for 6 year olds about a princess, her friends and a very shy Mammoth.

What happens

There's a Mammoth living at Princess Florizella's palace (he got magicked there by accident). His best friend is the Sea Serpent who lives in the moat. All summer they play Grandmother's Footsteps on the drawbridge, and the whole castle shakes. The king is NOT amused.

Then the grumpiest person in Fairytale Land turns up. The Countess N'Asty is collecting creatures for her travelling show of Rare and Disagreeables, and the Sea Serpent decides to go and be a star.

But the show is nasty (it's in the name). The Sea Serpent starts to feel something it's never felt before. Sadness! It misses its friends. And the Mammoth has to find the courage to go and rescue it, even though he's only wittle.

This is SUCH fun to read aloud. The Mammoth can't say his Ls or his Rs ("Compwete wobbwedewook!"). The Sea Serpent hisses every S. And a muddled messenger parrot turns "Bring a picnic, come quick" into "Bring a piglet, lump, thick, nitwit". Get ready to do the voices!

Florizella is a brilliant heroine. She rides her horse Jellybean in jodhpurs and never bothers with the silly rules princesses are supposed to follow. Her little brother Courier keeps trying to invent the telephone (with paper cups and string), and her friend Prince Bennett arrives nearly sinking in a home-made boat.

There are plenty of jokes for grown-ups and some lovely long words, so it's probably best shared at bedtime rather than read alone. Who doesn't like a story where the grown-ups laugh too?

One small thing. At the show the Sea Serpent pretends to gobble up someone dressed as a princess, and some of the lucky ticket winners are terrified. It's done for laughs, but very little ones might want a cuddle for that bit.

What to read next

If your reader wants to know how Florizella got started, The Princess Rules is where her story begins, with a ball, a hundred and twenty princesses in glass slippers and one very fed-up prince.