Party Princess

by Vanita Braver and M.D. Braver, Vanita

Madison and friends are at it again in the second book in the series Teach Your Children Well! This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587600382
• ISBN13: 9781587600388
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Child & Family Press
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.2" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A Gem of a Book!

I'm an elementary school teacher and read this book to my class a few weeks ago. The kids loved this book, even the boys! They are still talking about it. They already knew the characters from Pinky Promise. There were so many great points to discuss afterwards. I used some of the activity sheets and teacher's guide from the author's website which were helpful. The illustrations are well done and compliment the book nicely. I highly recommend this book!

Party Princess is Superb!

The story is warm, sweet and simply wonderful!!! Dr. Braver (visit www.drvanitabraver.com) captures the magic of story telling, accompanied by beautiful, whimsical illustrations. My children love the first book, "Pinky Promise". I look forward to collecting the entire "Teach Your Children Well" series. I'm sure all the books will be treasured for years to come!"

Princess Learns Beauty's True Source

Dr. Vanita Braver knows that it is difficult to teach our children well. For starters, she's a child psychiatrist who is the psychiatric medical director of the residential treatment center Bonnie Brae. She's also a mother. She took much of what she learned in both roles to create her series Teach Your Children Well. The second book in that series, Party Princess, released in April 2005, is a book that features 6-year-old Madison and the lessons she is learning about morals. Party Princess opens with Madison getting ready for a big day. She's put on a lovely pink dress and is thrilled with how beautiful she feels. As she welcomes her best friend Emily as the first guest at her birthday party, she decides that some of her mom's makeup would make her look even more the role of a party princess. Only like most 6-year-olds, she isn't quite coordinated enough to put on make-up without making a huge mess-including spilling sparkly red nail polish all over the bathroom counter and her dress. At this point in the story, many parents are nodding their hands and ready to jump up and tell their stories about times that they as a child or their own children have done something similar. It is this familiarity that Braver strives for-putting her protagonist into realistic situations that both parents and children can relate to. What might be less common is the response of the mother. While she is obviously frustrated and shares her disappointment with Madison, she doesn't yell, she doesn't punish, and she doesn't make Madison feel worse than she already does. Instead, she just sends her to change out of the beloved party dress into something less desirable, but not smattered with nail polish. Throughout much of the rest of the party, Madison sulks. While her mother may not have yelled at her, Madison feels her disappointment pretty keenly and feels guilty about her misbehavior and unhappy with the consequence of not getting to wear the pretty clothes that she had so carefully dressed herself in. Her mood is only restored after opening a present and getting the opportunity to make Emily feel good-an opportunity that she takes advantage of to the approval of her mother and the delight of her friend. At bedtime that night, she and her mom talk about the makeup incident and her mom reminds her that she is never to touch the makeup without permission. She also reinforces that Madison is pretty without makeup-that she is beautiful because of the spirit within her. Madison reflects on the day and said that she felt far better about sharing with Emily than she did about wearing her party dress. As a woman who dislikes the pervasiveness of makeup and the message from the beauty industry and media that we must change ourselves in order to be beautiful, I found a lot of appeal in this short picture book. Madison discovers on her own that she feels a lot better from being a beautiful person than she feels from simply looking beautiful. She also discovers

Promoting Self-Image in Our Children!

Great Book!! Madison and her friends are back in Party Princess, the second book of the nine book series written by Dr. Vanita Braver, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and mother of three daughters. She blended her psychiatric knowledge with common events to build her story about inner beauty. Madison her main character wants to look extra pretty on her birthday. She wears her pretty pink velvet dress. She remembers how pretty she looked when she dressed up as a princess on Halloween and decides to help herself to Mom's makeup. After applying a little bright pink lipstick that missed her lips, some blush and eye shadow, Madison spied the glittery red nail polish. Madison thought how wonderful she would look with sparkling red nails, so she opened it up and painted her pinky. Poor Madison, a glob of sticky red polish dripped on her beautiful pink dress. She tries to rub it off with no success. She is so upset, the bottle tips over and red glittery nail polish spilled everywhere. Madison tries to clean up the mess, but she couldn't get the nail polish off. Mom comes in to find Madison and the mess. She doesn't yell, but Madison can feel her disappointment. Mom helps Madison clean up her face and change her dress before the party goers arrive. Madison is feeling pretty low and is down in the dumps about wrecking her beautiful pink velvet dress. Madison's best friend Emily tells her she will feel better when she opens her gift, but Madison is not sure. Emily hands her the box and inside is the most wonderful doll. She knows Emily has wanted this doll for a long time, so she tells Emily they can share the doll. Wisdom the Owl and her Mom give her a nod of approval. That is when Madison realizes how pretty she feels on the inside. Not only does Party Princess help children understand that true beauty comes from the inside, but it also, helps parents learn how to interact with their children when things don't go as planned. Parents can see how to respond in a calm and compassionate way. With all the images of perfection that bombard our children everyday, they can develop self-image problems at earlier and earlier ages. This is the perfect book to help combat these images before they become a problem. Party Princess and the Teach Your Children Well Series is published by the Child & Family Press, an imprint of the Child Welfare League of America. They dedicate all the proceeds of their books to support CWLA programs for children and families. (...)

A "Read it again, Mommy!" Favorite

Sure to be one of those 'Read it again, Mommy!' favorites, this enchanting tale of a special day gone awry is sure to delight children and parents with its sunny humor and tender realism. Without heavy-handed moralizing, 'Party Princess', the second book in Dr. Braver's 'Teach Your Children Well' series delivers a gentle message for everyone: that sharing and forgiving are more beautiful than outward glamour, and that relationships with people are more meaningful than things..... The 'Teach Your Children Well' series by Child Psychiatrist, Vanita Braver, M.D. entertains and reassures children that they are loved and supported as they undergo impish real-life crises, and in addition--no small feat in itself--helps parents model their own mature responses to their children's mischief. The stories are sweetly amusing as adventures, but educational too as illustrations of the dilemmas and temptations that are part of every child's day. What is especially wise and consoling is the author's emphasis that moral trouble and moral redemption are not abstract commandments but aspects of living, intimate relationships. By placing human devotion at the center of ethical dramas, this series helps readers open their hearts to greater communication and trust between parent and child. Elizabeth Berger, M.D. Author, Raising Children with Character