The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink
by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
art by LeUyen Pham
Candlewick Press
2024
I visited some family recently, which included a chance to see my niece. Since my last visit, she's gotten a preference for longer books and series, as well as for princesses and other trappings of fantasy. She's especially fond of the Princess in Black series, so I decided to read one that caught my eye, The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink.
The Princess in Black is basically a superhero. Whenever monsters show up to ruin things, Princess Magnolia slips away and puts on her costume, becoming the Princess in Black to fight them off. She has lots of other princess friends, who all have flower names and heroic alter egos, (probably accumulated over the course of the many books in the series preceding this one), and if I've understood correctly, none of them knows each others' secrets. They're more like superheroes than magic girls because they change into their costumes like any other set of clothes rather than having a transformation sequence. As far as I can tell, they have no powers, just the bravery to stand up to scary monsters and the athletic fitness to chase them off.
In this story, all the princesses have organized and are helping to run a spring festival, complete with rides, games, snacks, and the like, with the princesses operating all the booths. A rude emu shows up and creates a ruckus, kicking over stands, scaring all the kids in the crowd, smashing some decorations for the dance that Princess Magnolia brought. It's all very sudden and very public, so Magnolia has no opportunity for a costume change. Fortunately, Prince Valerian is attending too, and he manages to simply push the emu back outside and bar the gate.
Magnolia is sad about her decorations, but she's visited by the Prince in Pink, a hero who specializes in throwing parties rather than fighting monsters. (This is very obviously Valerian in costume, but Magnolia never suspects.) The prince helps her salvage the remaining decorations and set up for the evening's festival dance. The decorating sequence is illustrated in much the same way I suspect the monster fights usually are, as a montage of dramatic moments.
The dance is a success, but the emu comes back with two ostrich sidekicks. The birds can't talk, so none of the princesses know what they want, but the narration grants them enough interiority to reveal that they're equally fond of kicking things and dancing. The lights go out, and literally all the princesses change costumes to produce a team of like a dozen heroes ready to defend the party. The Prince in Pink is there too - he decorates the birds and restarts the music, and instead of fighting everyone dances, leading to a happy ending for all.
As far as I can tell, the Prince in Pink is the first costumed boy in a series that's primarily about showing little girls that they can be a princess sometimes and a tomboy others, they don't have to choose between tea parties and rough-and-tumble play.
It seems notable to me that what appears to be a popular series has included a book introducing a character that at least some parents are going to read as gay. But aside from his pink costume and his love of parties and decor, Valerian isn't otherwise coded as gay. There's a long tradition of artists indicating to audiences that a guy is intended to be seen as queer without anyone saying a word or showing him involved in romance. In the past, I'm certain Valerian would've been queer-coded, if he was introduced at all. But I didn't see any of those techniques in use here. Valerian isn't feminine or campy, he's not a sissy or coward. He fights the emu without any hesitation, but dressing as the Prince in Pink lets him do what he really likes, just like dressing as the Princess in Black gives Magnolia the chance to be a hero.
The Princess in Black is basically a superhero. Whenever monsters show up to ruin things, Princess Magnolia slips away and puts on her costume, becoming the Princess in Black to fight them off. She has lots of other princess friends, who all have flower names and heroic alter egos, (probably accumulated over the course of the many books in the series preceding this one), and if I've understood correctly, none of them knows each others' secrets. They're more like superheroes than magic girls because they change into their costumes like any other set of clothes rather than having a transformation sequence. As far as I can tell, they have no powers, just the bravery to stand up to scary monsters and the athletic fitness to chase them off.
In this story, all the princesses have organized and are helping to run a spring festival, complete with rides, games, snacks, and the like, with the princesses operating all the booths. A rude emu shows up and creates a ruckus, kicking over stands, scaring all the kids in the crowd, smashing some decorations for the dance that Princess Magnolia brought. It's all very sudden and very public, so Magnolia has no opportunity for a costume change. Fortunately, Prince Valerian is attending too, and he manages to simply push the emu back outside and bar the gate.
Magnolia is sad about her decorations, but she's visited by the Prince in Pink, a hero who specializes in throwing parties rather than fighting monsters. (This is very obviously Valerian in costume, but Magnolia never suspects.) The prince helps her salvage the remaining decorations and set up for the evening's festival dance. The decorating sequence is illustrated in much the same way I suspect the monster fights usually are, as a montage of dramatic moments.
The dance is a success, but the emu comes back with two ostrich sidekicks. The birds can't talk, so none of the princesses know what they want, but the narration grants them enough interiority to reveal that they're equally fond of kicking things and dancing. The lights go out, and literally all the princesses change costumes to produce a team of like a dozen heroes ready to defend the party. The Prince in Pink is there too - he decorates the birds and restarts the music, and instead of fighting everyone dances, leading to a happy ending for all.
As far as I can tell, the Prince in Pink is the first costumed boy in a series that's primarily about showing little girls that they can be a princess sometimes and a tomboy others, they don't have to choose between tea parties and rough-and-tumble play.
It seems notable to me that what appears to be a popular series has included a book introducing a character that at least some parents are going to read as gay. But aside from his pink costume and his love of parties and decor, Valerian isn't otherwise coded as gay. There's a long tradition of artists indicating to audiences that a guy is intended to be seen as queer without anyone saying a word or showing him involved in romance. In the past, I'm certain Valerian would've been queer-coded, if he was introduced at all. But I didn't see any of those techniques in use here. Valerian isn't feminine or campy, he's not a sissy or coward. He fights the emu without any hesitation, but dressing as the Prince in Pink lets him do what he really likes, just like dressing as the Princess in Black gives Magnolia the chance to be a hero.
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