The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess

by Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, Shadra Strickland (Illustrator)

Overview

2013 NAACP Image Award Nominee
2013 Phillis Wheatley Book Award Winner

A lively tale of one young woman’s adventure to pass her Official Princess Test, discover a means of escape from her island, and reveal her true destiny.
Thirteen-year-old orphan Black Bee Bright (B. B. for short) is funny, quirky, precocious, and adventurous. But B. B. has a secret. She’s captive on an island in “the middle of very tropical nowhere” because she’s forced to hide her true identity as a royally born princess from her parents’ enemies in Raven World. B. B. must find a way to escape to “the Other World” where there are best friends and cool clothes, but she can’t escape the island until she passes her Official Princess Test and undertakes a dangerous journey alone to the East side of the island, where eight princesses must help her discover what it truly means to be a princess.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781618580153
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	09/25/2012
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	7 - 12 Years

About the Author

Alice Randall is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wind Done Gone. A graduate of Harvard University, Randall now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a songwriter and Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University.

Caroline Randall Williams is a graduate of Harvard University. She was an instructor with Teach for America for two years and is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Mississippi. The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess, is her first book.

Read an Excerpt

The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess

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By Alice Randall

Turner

Copyright © 2012 Alice Randall
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781618580153

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Dear Diary,

I want off this island. If I can’t step off by myself, I hope maybe I can sneak you, Diary, into the bottom of one of the crates of honey we bottle and ship out every month to The Other World. 

If some girl finds this diary, maybe she’ll write to me and I’ll have a friend.  I want a friend! A girl. My age! Or maybe some boy will find you, read you, fall in love with me, then rush over to the island to meet me . . . no matter what.

And I want to take off the necklace with the huge darkstar they make me wear every hour of every day!

None of that’s going to happen. I’m going to be stuck on this island forever! Unless I can smuggle you out—and someone comes. For me!

Continues...

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Excerpted from The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess by Alice Randall Copyright © 2012 by Alice Randall. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of body image and self-esteem. Young readers will respond to the voice as well as the predicament, while grown-ups will appreciate the values." —Kirkus Reviews

"Talented authors Randall and Randall-Williams created this charming novel that tickled my imagination. . . . The Diary of B. B. Bright will provide readers with adventures that’ll lead them through the fast-moving exploits of a fresh new character, Black Bee Bright, a.k.a. Bee or B. B. Although Bee and her world is fantasy, the authors have kept it all very real. Contemporary readers will recognize Bee’s defiance of the Godmommies' three rules, the secret of her father, and her struggle to pass the life-defining official princess training test . . . the dreaded OPT. A Black Princess? You betcha! This is a book that should win recognition and praise." —Patricia McKissack, Coretta Scott King Award winner, NAACP Image Award winner, and bestselling author of Flossie and the Fox, Going Someplace Special, Mirandy and Brother Wind, and Let My People Go

“I can’t adequately convey how cute and fun this book is.” —Rhapsody in Books

"A fun twist on the fairy princess story . . . an exciting, romantic, enchanting tale . . . charmingly illustrated by Strickland's line drawings." —A Wrung Sponge

Editorial Reviews

"Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of body image and self-esteem. Young readers will respond to the voice as well as the predicament, while grown-ups will appreciate the values." —Kirkus Reviews

"Talented authors Randall and Randall-Williams created this charming novel that tickled my imagination. . . . The Diary of B. B. Bright will provide readers with adventures that’ll lead them through the fast-moving exploits of a fresh new character, Black Bee Bright, a.k.a. Bee or B. B. Although Bee and her world is fantasy, the authors have kept it all very real. Contemporary readers will recognize Bee’s defiance of the Godmommies' three rules, the secret of her father, and her struggle to pass the life-defining official princess training test . . . the dreaded OPT. A Black Princess? You betcha! This is a book that should win recognition and praise." —Patricia McKissack, Coretta Scott King Award winner, NAACP Image Award winner, and bestselling author of Flossie and the Fox, Going Someplace Special, Mirandy and Brother Wind, and Let My People Go

“I can’t adequately convey how cute and fun this book is.” —Rhapsody in Books

"A fun twist on the fairy princess story . . . an exciting, romantic, enchanting tale . . . charmingly illustrated by Strickland's line drawings." —A Wrung Sponge

From the Publisher

Gr 6–8—The Godmommies tell Black Bee Bright, 13, that there are Three Big Rules: no man can step foot on the island, she can't step foot off the island until she's met eight princesses, and she can't tell anyone that she is the Raven King's daughter. Through diary entries, B.B. details her life on Bee Island, where she spends her days listening to her squabbling Godmommies, preparing for the OPT (Official Princess Test) with Mamselle, and reading magazines while wishing for a boyfriend or even just a friend. B.B. feels stuck. Stuck on an island she has been exiled to and stuck between the Raven World, where she would be a princess, and the Other World, with great clothes and people her own age. The catalyst that moves B.B. from her stagnation is a trip to the East side of the island, which is supposedly covered in prickly thickets and populated by poisonous snakes and a Great Pale Bear. But B.B. must make the journey to discover the eight princesses, her purpose, and herself. The diary format ensures that Black Bee's narrative voice is clear and strong, though some of the elevated language and cultural references may be difficult for the intended audience. Black-and-white drawings are scattered throughout. This is a delightful tale of a girl who inhabits a world like readers' but is also very different. What remains true whether on Bee Island or the Other World is her search to find herself and her path in life.—Naphtali L. Faris, Missouri State Library, Jefferson City, MO

School Library Journal

Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of body image and self-esteem. B.B.'s plight unfolds in a diary format. At 13, she has grown bored with life on a secluded island with her doting, albeit squabbling Godmommies. B.B. is in exile because her royal parents feared for her life. Rather than fearing for her safety, however, B.B. is more concerned with having friends, meeting a boyfriend and wearing stylish clothes. What works best is the classic storytelling voice. Randall (The Wind Done Gone, for adults, 2001) and Randall Williams create characters who feel authentic and familiar even as they inhabit a fantastical, supernatural world. The Godmommies are a hoot, coloring B.B.'s world with their homespun wisdom. B.B.'s constant comparisons between herself and Photoshopped images in the magazines she reads sometimes feel jarring, although they are certainly timely. At its heart, this is a tale of a girl straddling two worlds--the safety and comfort of what she's been taught with the promise of who she really wants to be. Young readers will respond to the voice as well as the predicament, while grown-ups will appreciate the values. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews