The Princess and the Prick: A Witty Feminist Spoof of Classic Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes for Adults.

By Walburga Appleseed.

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“May I kiss you, he said.She didn't answer. She was asleep.So he kissed her anyway”.

What if the fairy tales we grew up with were rewritten by the women who had to live through them?

That simple but clever premise is at the heart of The Princess and the Prick by Walburga Appleseed. Rather than retelling classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes as we remember them, this pocket-sized collection turns familiar stories on their head, using humour to highlight the outdated messages many of us accepted without question as children.

The cover immediately gives you a sense of exactly what to expect. Playful, witty and slightly irreverent, it perfectly captures the tongue-in-cheek tone that runs throughout the book.

This isn't a traditional story. Instead, each spread pairs a striking black-and-white illustration with just a few carefully chosen lines that reinterpret well-known tales through a feminist lens. Some entries are one-liners, others are short verses or rhyming couplets, but every page invites readers to reconsider the assumptions hidden within stories that have been passed down for generations.

What impressed me most was how much each entry managed to say with so few words. The humour is sharp without becoming preachy, encouraging readers to laugh while also recognising just how normalised many of these outdated ideas once were. Whether it's questioning consent in Sleeping Beauty or poking fun at the unrealistic expectations placed on female characters, the jokes land because they're rooted in familiar stories we all recognise.

The illustrations deserve just as much praise as the writing. Beautifully drawn and full of personality, they elevate each page and make the book feel like much more than a collection of jokes. The artwork complements the humour perfectly and encourages you to linger over each spread rather than simply racing through it.

Although I read the entire book in around fifteen minutes while on holiday, that's very much part of its appeal. This is the sort of book you can dip in and out of, leave on a coffee table or gift to someone with a similar sense of humour. It's more of a novelty read than a book with an overarching narrative, but it never pretends to be anything else.

Some reinterpretations were stronger than others, but the concept remained consistently entertaining throughout. My favourite moments were those that took the most recognisable fairy tales and exposed their absurdity with just a sentence or two, proving that sometimes the shortest observations are the most effective.

Funny, clever and beautifully illustrated, The Princess and the Prick is a light-hearted celebration of giving classic heroines the final word. Perfect as a gift or a quick afternoon read, it's a reminder that even the stories we think we know can be seen in an entirely different light.