Harriet the Invincible (Hamster Princess #1)

by Ursula Vernon (Author)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Sleeping Beauty gets a feisty, furry twist in this hilarious new comic series from the creator of Dragonbreath

Harriet Hamsterbone is not your typical princess. She may be quite stunning in the rodent realm (you'll have to trust her on this one), but she is not so great at trailing around the palace looking ethereal or sighing a lot. She finds the royal life rather... dull. One day, though, Harriet's parents tell her of the curse that a rat placed on her at birth, dooming her to prick her finger on a hamster wheel when she's twelve and fall into a deep sleep.

For Harriet, this is most wonderful news: It means she's invincible until she's twelve! After all, no good curse goes to waste. And so begins a grand life of adventure with her trusty riding quail, Mumfrey...until her twelfth birthday arrives and the curse manifests in a most unexpected way.

Perfect for fans of Babymouse and Chris Colfer's Land of Stories, this laugh-out-loud new comic hybrid series will turn everything you thought you knew about princesses on its head.

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School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 3-5--From the creator of the "Dragonbreath" series (Dial) comes a new fairy tale heroine in the form of a hamster. Princess Harriet Hamsterbone is not like ordinary princesses who are known for trailing around the palace looking ethereal and sighing a lot. She is, however, brave and intelligent and excels in other hamster princess skills, like checkers and fractions. Harriet is also invincible, due in part to a curse put upon her at birth by the evil wicked fairy god mouse, Ratshade. The curse dooms Princess Harriet to fall into a Sleeping Beauty-like slumber at the age of 12 but leaves her unable to die until then. Rather than worry about the inevitable, Princess Harriet lives life without fear--cliff-diving and Ogre-cat fighting, all with her trusty quail friend Mumfrey at her side. When the curse backfires, leaving all in the Kingdom in a deep slumber except Harriet and Mumfrey, it is up to the fierce little hamster to find a willing prince able to help her break the curse and save the kingdom. The artwork is large and in graphic novel-style, with sparse colors, similar to the "Dragonbreath" illustrations. Move over, Babymouse, there's a new rodent in town! VERDICT Vernon has created a spunky heroine readers will cheer for and who will leave them eagerly searching for the happily ever after in the next installment.--Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

This uproariously fun first entry in the Hamster Princess series begins when an uninvited evil fairy spoils Princess Harriet's christening and curses the baby to a deathlike sleep at age 12. Sound familiar? Well, it is, but this future sleeping beauty is a rodent, and the curse involves not a spinning wheel but a hamster wheel. When Harriet Hamsterbone, no fan of standard princess stuff like deportment lessons and kissing princes, learns about the curse at age 10, she's ecstatic--because she needs to be alive for the curse to work, she realizes that she's essentially invincible. (Harriet celebrates by jumping off a tower, then "spent the next two years cliff-diving, dragon-slaying, and jousting on the professional circuit.") When the curse magic gets twisted, Harriet demonstrates bravery, inventiveness, and a sword-sharp wit as she tries to save the kingdom. Shifting between prose passages and indigo-tinted cartoon sequences, Vernon (the Dragonbreath books) upends fairy-tale conventions and gender stereotypes left and right in a book with all the makings of a hit. Readers will be laughing themselves silly. Ages 8-12. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Aug.)

Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"[A] charming, funny, subversive middle-grade illustrated fantasy." — Cory Doctorow, New York Times bestselling author, activist, and co-editor of Boing Boing

* "A joy to read, and we can only hope that Harriet - long may she reign - will return in later installments." —Booklist, starred review

* "Move over, Babymouse, there's a new rodent in town!...Vernon has created a spunky heroine readers will cheer for and who will leave them eagerly searching for the happily ever after in the next installment." —School Library Journal, starred review

* "Harriet is her own hamster, but she takes her place proudly alongside both Danny Dragonbreath and Babymouse. Creatively fresh and feminist, with laughs on every single page." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "A book with all the makings of a hit. Readers will be laughing themselves silly." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Middle-graders with a taste for absurdity and snark will find plenty of both here...Fans of Holm's Babymouse (Babymouse: Queen of the World, BCCB 12/05) series or Vernon's Dragonbreath (BCCB 9/09) series will definitely want to tag along on Harriet's future adventures." —BCCB
Ursula Vernon
Ursula Vernon lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780803739833
Lexile Measure
810
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Dial Books
Publication date
August 20, 2015
Series
Hamster Princess
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV002180 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, etc.
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV012040 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Adaptations
Library of Congress categories
Humorous stories
Adventure and adventurers
Adventure stories
Princesses
Blessing and cursing
Hamsters

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