Princess For A Week

Wright, Betty Ren. 2006. Princess for a Week. Illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers.

When Roddy Hall overhears his mother saying that "Princess" is coming to visit, he is excited--he's always wanted a dog. But then he finds out that--ick--Princess is a girl and--yuck--she'll be staying for a whole week.

Roddy is a young boy who has no use for girls and a lot of uses for a dog. When his mom's friend, Linda--who shows dogs for rich people--goes out of town she asks her friend to watch over Princess. Roddy is so excited he's practically speechless. In fact, he starts planning to rebuild a broken-down doghouse with his friend, Jacob. But the two best friends are in for quite a surprise when Princess turns out to be none other than "Princess Thornberry. My stepmother Linda dropped me off an hour ago. And if you think I'm going to sleep in a broken-down doghouse, you're crazy. Your mom said I get the bedroom with all the dinosaur posters" (5-6). That is only the beginning of Roddy's miserable adventures as Princess gets him in and out of trouble. It's bad enough, in his opinion, that Princess is a girl. But what really drives him crazy is that she's a girl who thinks she's a detective. A detective that is going to solve the mystery of the neighborhood's haunted house. How can he protect her when the place gives him the creeps. How can a girl have more courage and determination than a boy? And why is she so intent on proving herself to everybody???