The Hinky-Pink
by Megan McDonald (Author) Brian Floca (Illustrator)
Anabel, a talented seamstress, is delighted to be summoned to the Great Castle of Firenze to create a special dress for Princess Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola, but becomes discouraged when her efforts are continually subverted by an unseen sprite.
A happy Hinky-Pink is a fine thing. An unhappy Hinky-Pink pinches!
That is what happens to Anabel, a young seamstress in Old Italy who has only days to finish her dream: sewing a gown for the princess to wear at the Butterfly Ball. Thanks -- or no thanks -- to the Hinky-Pink Anabel is woozy for want of sleep. Her lace looks like cheesecloth; her hems, like saddle cinches. Night after night, the Hinky-Pink keeps wrestling her bedclothes to the floor -- and pinching. What is its problem? And how is Anabel to help?A grand old favorite of storytellers is here given sprightly new life.
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Kirkus Review - Children
Booklist
Hornbook Guide to Children
Anabel must sew a princess's gown for the Butterfly Ball. Unfortunately, a pest she can't spot--a Hinky-Pink--keeps disrupting her sleep. Each night she fashions it a bed, until she's finally able to satisfy it--just in time. McDonald embroiders her tale with colorful language. Floca's nimble pen lines are washed in warm colors, bubbling with energy and verve.
Copyright 2009 Hornbook, LLC Used with permission.
School Library Journal
Gr 2- 4. Anabel is a seamstress in Old Italy who dreams of making a dress worthy of a princess. Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola is a princess who gives the girl one week to make her a dress worthy of the Butterfly Ball. Locked in the tower sewing room, Anabel finds the finest silk, chiffon, and crepe as well as gold scissors, thread that is clear as glass, and a silver thimble. Unfortunately, she also shares the room with a Hinky-Pink that pinches her at night, steals her covers, and makes sleep impossible. When Anabel is "chill as a fish and can't sew a stitch," the nursemaid advises her to make the Hinky-Pink a bed of its own. After many unsuccessful attempts, Anabel fashions a tiny bed from her silver thimble, and the Hinky-Pink hums happily. Having slept "the sleep of a princess without a pea," she sews the perfect dress in a single day. Illustrations are done in watercolor and ink and feature a warm palette of rose, peach, and gold tones. Actual landmarks are used to make Firenze come alive, while Italian words and phrases are scattered throughout, sometimes placed in speech bubbles. McDonald's flawless storytelling melds with Floca's joyous art, bringing new life to Margery Bailey's "The Bed Just So" from "Whistle for Good Fortune" (Little, Brown, 1948). Girls who love princess stories will adore this lively tale."Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN"
Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
In this small-format entry, a happy hybrid of traditional tale and quirky cartoon, McDonald ("Judy Moody") and Floca ("Lightship") recast a story from 1940 to tickle a contemporary fancy. Humble seamstress Anabels dream of sewing a princesss ball gown is finally about to come trueuntil a Hinky-Pink, a mysterious, seemingly invisible creature begins robbing her of sleep night after night. The characters clearly inhabit fairy tale landback when mirrors could talk and princes were frogsbut this particular magical realm intersects with a long-ago Florence, depicted in Flocas limber ink-and-watercolor illustrations and invoked by the occasional Italian word or phrase. Like the text, the art hits just the right tone of tongue-in-cheek earnestness: after stating that the heroines name is Anabel, the omniscient narrator adds, Alas, "not" Anabella, and a speech balloon floats out of the illustration (a panorama of Florence) with an echoing Alas. The lively design mixes full-page bleeds, pictures stretching across spreads, and tiny animated vignettes; a profusion of detail doesnt impede a spirited sense of motion. For extra fun, endnotes identify Florentine landmarks. Ages 4-8. "(Sept.)"
Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.
Princesses
Goblins
Dressmakers
