king & king

It might have been nice to have owned this truly fairy tale when I was growing up. The Dutch writer-illustrator team of Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland's children's book Koning & Koning failed to raise eyebrows in their native land, and the English version, King & King, virtually slipped onto American shelves unnoticed. But that changed last week when parents in North Carolina created a media storm by protesting the book's existence in the local elementary school to which they've entrusted their daughter.

So incensed were Michael and Tonya Hartsell over the fact that their dimpled darling freely checked the book out of the school library, they refused to return the book lest it be circulated into other tender hands to promote, what one supporter termed, "a choice to do the unthinkable."

The "unthinkable" is that in de Haan and Nijland's colorful story, a handsome prince, Bertie, is browbeaten by his domineering mother, the Queen, to wed. He agrees reluctantly, and then endures a rag-tag audition of hopeful princesses to find the right one to marry. Enter Princess Madeleine. More importantly, enter her supportive brother, Prince Lee. Bertie is smitten...with Lee. With the Queen's blessing, the two princes are married (sans benefit of a county license) and everyone lives happily ever after--except in North Carolina.

Yet, there's even a bit of a happy ending there. The school board and librarian have refused to kowtow to the pre-Darwinists and ban this rather sweet boy-meets-boy book. Instead, they have agreed to circulate it among students who have permission from their parents to read it (and based on the many letters to their local editor, this part of North Carolina seems to be well served with thoughtful and liberal parents).

Better news, the controversy has not surprisingly made this fanciful little picture book into one of last week's bestsellers on Amazon.com (when will Talibanish Puritans ever learn the lessons of Prohibition, I wonder?). But the best news is that de Haan and Nijland are soon to release a sequel: King & King & Family, in which Bertie and Lee adopt a baby princess. You can almost hear those dentures splattering upon the pages of Leviticus throughout the Heartland.

By Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

(Tricycle Press, 30 pages, $14.95)

WWeek 2015