The Princess of Tears by Reesa Grace
Published: Red Wand Publishing, 2018
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A princess with an unstoppable flow of tears streaming down her face goes on a journey to dry her eyes. Along the way she meets a string of unusual creatures who need her exactly as she is.
Born in Bangkok, writer and artist Grace combines eastern aesthetics with western fairy tales to tell a hero’s journey in vibrant colors. The watercolors are lovely and the character designs have a rounded, Sanrio-like simplicity. The friends the princess meets either have bright, smiling mouths with blushing cheeks or look even cuter with no mouths at all, a sharp contrast with the faceless silhouettes who inhabit her kingdom.
Not every page drives the story forward, but the setup pays off with a lesson about finding your place and purpose in the world. The less successful part is the book design, where each piece of copy is confined within a semi-transparent block, and on some pages, the text lies directly over some of the adorable illustrations.
The Princess of Tears is a read-aloud storybook with lovely pictures, and the lumpy rabbit village is the best reason to buy.