Gina Farina and the Prince of Mintz

Grade 1-3 Gina Farina, the baker's daughter, makes "splendiferous pies," but her heart is set on adventure. When a group of traveling players comes to her village she decides to become cook for the troupe and travel the world. One town they visit is Mintz, where it is law that no one say no to the prince. But when the prince orders Gina Farina to stay in Mintz and bake her delicious pies for him, she refuses. He trys to trick her into staying, but she tricks him into becoming happy. Gina Farina leaves, but she returns every seven years to bake and laugh. The Italian Renaissance setting is portrayed in sepia brown, blue, and rose pencil. The drawings are clever, beginning with the endpapers filled with steaming pies. Each illustration is framed, but the figures refuse to stay inside, exhibiting considerably more action than the text. The corniest, and yet the most telling, illustration is Gina Farina posed a la Mona Lisa. She is the strength of the book; lovely with flowing hair and rosy cheeks and possessing humor, strength of character and high self-esteem. She attains her dream, not a prince, but the world. This modern fairy tale successfully illustrates that women can do and be anything, but at the expense of a compelling plot and interesting minor characters. Karen K. Radtke, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.