The Little Queen

I was really intrigued by this though Netgalley marketed it as poetry which technically it is not? Still the writing is lyrical and has so many metas you will fall in love.

The Little Queen is about the little queen thinking she doesn't know how to be a queen in her kingdom, so she sets on an adventure throughout the world to meet new people. She grows from these encounters and learns so many new things. She finds many friendships and even love. I want to shout because I didn't know this was F/F? And IT'S AMAZING. The relationship is so cute and simple and just *sighs in love* you all.

Written by an author of color, I will recommend you all to support Meia! It's a short story where you will find that your time spent on this will be so worth it. You'll find beautiful art inside that will help you see how the little queen sees around herself. Plus I love the fact that throughout all her journey, the little queen meets female characters so I would like to think that it's a world where only-woman kingdoms exist and that's fabulous.

Bless this cute f/f fairytale with incredible writing, so light and too adorable to handle. The world needs more books like this.

The Little Queen follows the little queen after she loses her parents and finds herself as the new queen of her kingdom. But she's unsure of herself, not confident she can fill that position, so she starts a journey to help her be a better little queen. In the road she finds more than what she wished for; new friends, love, cultures... it's enchanting to read.

This storytelling is so lyric and beautiful. It has that fable feel that I haven't read in a really long time, plus with some adorable art to illustrate the little queen's adventures. It's different from what I was expecting but that just made me enjoy it that much more.

The Little Queen by Meia Geddes is the author’s second book. Geddes is also an artist, folding intricate paper cranes. She sometimes binds her own little booklets complete with her own watercolor birds. Her previous book Love Letters to the World is a collection of lyrical letters written as poetry. Geddes is also working her her way to becoming a world-class librarian.

I usually don’t read contemporary fiction, especially if it is written as a fable (think children’s story). Fables seemed to be a major source of the stories I heard when I was growing up. These relatively short stories held the reader’s (or more importantly the read to’s) attention and presented a moral or lesson at the end of the story. I haven’t seen many new versions of these stories since my childhood. They seem to have fallen out of favor to video and interactive media.

Geddes brings back the magic of storytelling with The Little Queen. A young princess suddenly finds herself ascended to the rank of queen after losing her parents. In an attempt to find herself, or trade her position of queen for something she can understand, she goes on a journey. Her journey introduces her a variety of people who would have typically have been wood cutters and candle makers in the past. The people she meets have received creative updates in job titles and descriptions. Each offers a bit of advice or discovery to the Little Queen and as in all fables, the young queen also finds love which develops in a very innocent manner.

The Little Queen is a charming and likable story. It is well written, and Geddes shows her cleverness and imagination in the storytelling. This fable is also wonderfully illustrated by Sara Zieve Miller. Although it is not my usual reading, I enjoyed it very much. It is rare that something outside of my normal reading holds my attention like The Little Queen. Extremely well done.

Available August 1, 2017

Sweet little lyrical story. I wasn't expecting much but this is really charming and enjoyable.

The Little Queen is a cute story, and beautifully illustrated, but unfortunately this was not the book for me. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I disliked it. In fact, I feel fairly neutral about it, and for that reason this IS a book I would be willing to recommend to certain people. My main complaint is that I felt unsure about what this book was trying to be. On Netgalley it was marked as poetry, and on Goodreads it is marked under young adult. Frankly, I’m not sure if either label fits, but I don’t know of an alternative that would better describe this book. Even though this wasn’t a personal favorite of mine, I think someone who is more familiar with Geddes’ writing style would find this story highly enjoyable.
Rating: ★★★

I was so excited to receive this book. It is described as young adult fairy tale. It is a very short book and can more accurately be described as a long, short story. I was intrigued despite it being outside my usual genre. The book is very well written and addresses very complex coming of age issues. The Little Queen has to grow up quickly when her parents die. Although they have tried to prepare her for the world, their passing leaves her at a loss. She embarks on a journey literally and figuratively where she discovers the kind of woman she wants to be. The story has a clear message that is so important for girls these days.
The writing ,while extremely poetic, is not my style and I had a very hard time following the rhythm and cadence at times. Some of the sentences were unclear to me and it left me re-reading. I think this book would be very difficult for many readers. In addition, I wish the book had a different title. I could not help thinking of the book The Little Prince. The Little Prince is a classic book that is on a level of its own. Therefore, thinking about it while reading another book is not a fair comparison. These books seem to be in a genre all their own. Perhaps they are young adult, or perhaps, the main character just happen to be a young adult
Overall, I had a difficult time becoming engaged with this book despite the likable characters and the journey they go on. I like the message and the tone of this book and I can recognize that this book is an artistic endeavor. However, personally, it did not resonate with me.

Entirely charming, The Little Queen, is how I would imagine a rewritten The Little Prince to be. It is quirky, populated by imaginative characters, and such a sweet fairy tale novella.

Prompted by the death of her parents, the little Queen searches for someone to help her become a great Queen. Her journey leads her into the paths of many people – the book sniffer, the dream collector – and many more who all teach her a little bit more about life. Along the way, the little Queen in her search to be a Queen, discovers things about herself, the person she wants to be, as well as falling in love.

The writing in this book is absolutely delightful. It is succinct and lyrical, while still managing to convey some interesting ideas about what a good Queen would be like. You can’t help but see similarities, even to the lovely drawings, to The Little Prince. But this, in no way, detracts from the charm of the story. The little Queen is entirely sweet and she goes on a journey that, in simplified form, all of us struggle with: the quest to find ourselves. (Also I love when I read about libraries in books!)

This novella is absolutely precious and I would love to see many more drawings within. It would be a wonderful contemporary upgrade from The Little Prince. Beautiful with words and ideas alike, this whimsical novella inspires us to follow our dreams, embody ourselves, and the journey to find ourselves.

I completely adored this precious and beautifully written fairytale! I saw it recommended on various diverse Twitter accounts and thought it sounded like something that I would enjoy reading. And it was, it really was! I honestly wish I had the words to do it justice and truly describe how gorgeous it is. The writing was lyrical and had a magical quality to it that just brought everything to life. Plus, it featured cute illustrations that further added to the fairytale feeling. The mixture of the story and illustrations reminded me of the books I read in my childhood. It definitely made me heart happy!

The story is about a little queen who is unsure if she can properly rule her kingdom. So, she sets off on an adventure to explore her kingdom. Along the way she meets new people, makes friends and falls in love. I loved how the characters she met were women of various walks of life that show and teach her so much. I also really liked how this story featured a f/f love story. It’s so simple and pure…they were just so perfect together!

Another reason why I just can’t stop gushing about this book is its message of acceptance. The book and its characters embrace differences and never judges people for the way that they are. It promotes self-acceptance and choice. This is such a beautiful and important message for people of all walks of life, but especially young adults who will hopefully read this book.

A really unusual and charming book, this feels older than it is if that makes sense, very classic and with lots of meaning and messages throughout. It's a hard one to put into words, but a definite must read. A really beautiful book!

This was a quick and absolutely delightful read. We follow the adventures of a little queen who just lost her parents and don't know how to be a little queen.
This is a story about self-discovery, friendship, grief, love, and everything that makes us human. The poetic writing kind of reminded me of The Little Prince, stating deep thoughts about humans, relationship, life etc through simple sentences. The writing was absolutely amazing.
This is the kind of book that sets you in a good and philosophical mood.
Also I was greatly surprised to find an f/f romance! It is finally time that we include queer relationships in children books.
I highly recommend this book.

Note: This review will post to my blog on 8/14/2017 and will be discussed on 8/17/2017. It will also post on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+, and Tumblr. I will provide the links when it posts.

The Little Queen by Meia Geddes - 4/ 5 stars

The Little Queen is a beautiful children’s story about a girl who becomes a little queen upon the death of her parents. She does not want to be a little queen and sets out on an adventure to try to find someone who would like to be a little queen. Along the way, she meets many characters whose names define what they do, but it is rude in the kingdom to ask someone what they do. The explanation is one of my favorite lines:

“Asking what one did was like asking who they were, and that was too simple a question for a very complex answer.”

There are many other beautiful lines that convey much depth and insight. For example:

“‘You must pay attention to your obsessions, where life and love intersect...’”
“...in the early morning there came a sliver of time in which everything was a beginning, a rebirth of dreams.”
“Walking and writing and running are very purposeful activities, but living we just happen to do regardless, … But most of us cannot not live and live, at least that I know of, so maybe the next best thing is to ponder not living and then to live.”

The Little Queen is part adventure, part philosophy, and part a reminder of embracing who we are. This makes it a wonderful children’s book, while also being an engaging and thought-provoking book for adults. It reminded me a bit of the Fairlyland series which starts with The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making. I would love to see more of the little queen.

There is a bit of lesbian instalove, but it is sweet and enduring in a way which makes it not feel like instalove. But this book is not really about romance or this love - the love story is another small piece of a much book which provides so much more to its readers.

It is a bit hard to describe this book without giving away much of the story and likely ruining the joy of discovering its beauty for oneself. It is a book everyone should read, young and old, as a fun, whimsical, thoughtful change of pace. It is a very quick read, with beautiful illustrations and language. You will not be disappointed if you read it. I cannot wait to see what else Meia Geddes writes.

This book was so precious.

Growing up, I listened to the same fairy tales as everyone else - Cinderella and Aladdin and The Sleeping Beauty - but they were never my favorites. My favorite was The Light Princess, a Scottish story about a princess who was cursed to be unaffected by gravity.

For some reason, this book brought me back - way back - to my childhood days, and The Little Queen had the same sort of nostalgia and sparkling innocence that fairy tales typically have. But it did feel more than that.

Something about this book also reminded me a bit of The Little Prince (and I'm sure it's not just the title). But both stories had a main character who looked at the world with a wondrous curiosity, and as a reader it was impossible to not feel the same warmth.

The writing was lyrical and beautiful, and the sketches in the book definitely added to the cozy atmosphere. This is definitely a book I think people of all ages could enjoy. I'll remember to read it to my own children fifteen years from now - and maybe it'll become their favorite.

What a wonderful story I was lucky to read early. That is a book that I wish I could gift to a ton of people, the kind of book that could make almost everybody smile.

It was first brought to my attention thanks to the tweet linked below. I thought I should give credit where it’s due since I would never have been aware of this lovely tale without it.

The Little Queen almost feels like a reaction to The Little Prince, because in here there are only female characters, contrary to The Little Prince (still a very nice book) crowded with men, and talking animals/plants/objects, but no women. To people who deeply love The Little Prince, (I know there are a lot of you 😉 ), I would very much recommend to give The Little Queen a chance. It is not the same thing, but I think the nice fuzzy feelings you might have felt reading one might resemble the ones you’ll feel reading the other.

Our little queen goes around her world and meets a lot of different people, all of them using “she” pronouns. They have all imaginative jobs description like book sniffer, plant lotioner, etc. This journey starts on a sad note, since the little queen just lost her parents and tries to find someone to take her place, since she doesn’t feel up to what awaits her. But it quickly becomes a wonderful sweet tale. I wouldn’t call it a fable because it doesn’t really try to teach lessons to the reader with a heavy hand. There are indeed advices and life lessons to be learned here, but it is done subtly.

This is a tale both about self-discovery and discovery of one’s home, one’s kingdom in this case.

It is poetic, lyrical. In a way that even subjects like poop and fart are talked about in a super cute and clever way. It seems weird told like that but it really is! This novella also deals with grief and love. I found myself highlighting and bookmarking way too much, almost one every two pages. It is a warm story, a story to cuddle up with, to read alone or with someone, a relative or a friend. While I’m often uncomfortable around children, I really felt the need to read or gift this book to a child.

From friendship, to love, to understanding and learning new things and meeting new different people, this little book manages to accomplish a lot of things in a short number of pages, alongside some super sweet illustrations.

I loved everything about this adorable and charming novella, and since it is suitable for every age I would recommend it to everyone.

This was a cute little story about brave strength, love and everything in between.. I would highly recommend it.