Thursday, August 4, 2016

My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess by Heath McKenzie Review


Book Nerd Review by Chloe

Rules are meant to be broken in this laugh-out-loud picture book about staying true to yourself.

One little girl gets her greatest wish of becoming a princess – only to discover that the rules of royalty are no fun. She has to have perfect hair and eat daintily and dance gracefully — boring! So, she decides to make up her own rules... A delightfully subversive picture book that teaches girls to be themselves — clumsy dancing, crazy scribbling and all.

"This ironic take on the Cinderella story is one that will delight many readers." — Reading Time.com



All “Lily” wants is to princess. When a real princess shows her the five rules a princess HAS to follow, “Lily” has some different ideas. Waiting for a prince is BORING, so “Lily” cuts that out of the rules. She also changes some other rules. “Lily’s” rules are a lot more fun than the real rules. “Lily” has to decide if being a princess or having fun is the right choice for her.

My Rules For Being A Pretty Princess has awesome pictures. It also clearly shows who is speaking with different colored speech bubbles for each person. There is also lots and lots of sparkly glittery fun. Little people will love watching the transformation “Lily” has to go throught to be a real princess. It might also make them rethink about if they really want to be a princess when they grow up!

You can purchase My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess at the following Retailers:
    


Author Spotlight

Heath McKenzie lives and works in a very small suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and has worked with numerous clients and publishers worldwide*.

His work is entirely freehand while also being entirely digital. He does his very best to keep it as 'real' as possible and tends to be successful at that more often than not.


Along with illustration (which he's been doing professionally since 2003) and writing (which he's been getting away with since 2013) he's managed to sneak in the odd bit of design work along the way.

When not drawing he's busily helping raise a little family with his lovely wife, collecting an unnecessary amount of toys, books and dvds, indulging in a spot of Doctor Who and attempting occasionally ambitious culinary feats in the kitchen.

He also enjoys possibly a bit too much tea.

GUEST POST

Defining moment during my youth when I realised I wanted to be a writer.

This is a great question for one important reason - there was no defining moment! Which i’ve come to realise is kind of important to know!

As I was growing up, I did always love to draw first and foremost, and would write stories too but with no particular idea of making a career out of it - I was much more about the drawing part. Making up comic strips and things just became a part of that now and then.

At some point as a kid it did dawn on me that people made animated cartoons - that was their job! You could do that for a job!!! Obviously you can, but back then, this was a minor revelation to me - so for quite a long time after that I had my sights set on animation.

I studied it and experimented throughout high school and did a degree at University in film and television because there was an animation component. However, on the downside, I found I didn’t necessarily have the patience for animation (atleast, the way it was being taught in this particular course), but on the upside, I learnt an awful lot about film and TV, script writing, storyboarding and more. All of which has since proven so useful in how I create picture books to this day!

Eventually, during a teaching degree, an illustrator came to give a lecture and it was from speaking with her I found a way into getting illustration work and from there eventually started to get written manuscripts accepted and published too. However, had I not tried different things, unsure of what to pursue with only a strong love of drawing always with me, i’d never have eventually put all the pieces into place leading me to being a published author/illustrator!

So I guess my point is - don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do or be! Not everybody has a defining moment - and by not having a focussed direction, you’re suddenly open to numerous possibilities that could lead you all manner of unexpected places - just like me! I guess it’s the journey, not the destination, that so often counts!

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4 comments:

  1. I was much more about the drawing part. Making up comic strips and things just became a part of that now and then.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Glad to read some exceptional rules for being a princess, I have seen some impressive tips at trampoline and health about being the healthy and beautiful princess, Heath McKenzie you have got one intelligent way of writing all those blogs for kids

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