Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose by Nancy Grow

Can a beautiful princess with giant feet and a charming prince with a huge nose ever find true love? They can and do when they finally find each other. This is a lovely picture book about looking past superficial imperfections to see the person beneath. It is written with fluid, fairytale prose complete with a comforting repeated rhyme, "I am what I am and that's all right with me./ I don't have to be different, I just have to be." So many pseudo fairy tales these days have silly illustrations. I am glad this one has pretty pictures. Costanza uses rich colors with muted edges to give the illustrations a soft, mythical feeling. He is clever in his composition of the pictures. He makes it so that story of the princess mirrors the story of the prince, using similar compositions for each. Although the moral of this story is less than subtle, little girls will like it and it will remind them that no matter what is on the outside, it is what is on the inside that counts.