Princess Patricia Priscilla is bored, bored, bored. In a few days, she's going to turn 16 and she will be faced with having to choose a husband at The Birthday Ball. She decides to escape from the castle dresses as a peasant and makes her way to the school where she finds herself explaining that her father was killed by a wild boar and her mother takes in laundry or wait, was it her mother who was killed? Lois Lowry had a wonderful time flexing her humor muscle in this hilarious tale. Meanwhile, her would-be suitors are preparing to capture her heart. First there's Duke Desmond, he of the "huge, crooked, brown-spotted teeth and the tuft of coarse copper-colored hair" all of which conspire to make him resemble a warthog. He's followed by Prince Percival of the black clothing, the dyed black hair and equally black heart who is not to be outdone by the conjoint counts who are joined at the waist. When they were born and their situation was understood, a proclamation went out throughout the land that henceforth all nouns shall be plural. They have a propensity for rude noises and shouting the word balls with great glee. What is a princess to do? This fairytale gallops along with potholes full of humor all along the road. 192 pages Ages 8-11