Princess Angelica: Junior Reporter

Angelica, aka “Jelly”, and her friend Joon are splitting their free time between the park pool and the newly-opened library building. At the library, they meet a new friend, Eloise, who likes to read the newspaper. Jelly pretends that she is Angelica Ledoux, one of the reporters for the Montreal Gazette, and has fun doing some interviews on activities at the pool. When the real Angelica Ledoux turns up at the library, however, Jelly is in trouble – her friends are upset with her for lying, and, to make matters worse, the rare books area of the library is flooding. Jelly must use all her problem solving skills and storytelling skills to fix everything up and save the day. In the end, Angelica Ledoux forgives Jelly for her impersonation, gives her a job dog-sitting her pug Plug, and promises to mentor her as a fellow writer.

The third book in a series, Princess Angelica: Junior Reporter has built up some context that helps make Jelly and her friends more interesting to the reader. There are mentions of the previous two books, Princess Angelica, Camp Catastrophe and Princess Angelica: Part-Time Lion Trainer, and Joon's reactions to the events in them, and Jelly is shown to have a bit more thought as to why she is telling lies and whether she really should. At the end of the book, there is a quick discussion amongst the characters of the serious consequences of identity theft (“People can get sent to jail for that sort of thing”) and the differences between reporting and storytelling. In addition, this time around, when Joon discovers Jelly's lie, she is annoyed enough to ignore Jelly for awhile, even after Jelly apologizes. The discussion between Joon and Eloise on why it is that Jelly keeps lying is one of the funnier parts of the book, although it is quite uncomfortable for Jelly! Eloise displays good critical thinking skills, and it is good to see some characters interacting with each other instead of solely with Jelly.

Jane Heinrichs’ illustrations are in black and white. Some of the illustrations do not match the text; for instance, in the scene from the excerpt where Eloise and Jelly are conversing about interviewing the prime minister and Joon has already gone home, Joon and Jelly are depicted sitting together.

As it seems the influences of past installments will continue to carry on to the next ones, I wonder how the girls' friendship will continue throughout the series without suffering when Jelly tells another lie in the next book. Jelly's problem-solving abilities get some more time in the spotlight as she comes up with practical solutions to problems such as a creaky bookdrop or a lost earring. Plugging a drain with a pug, however, might meet with disapproval from some readers. Though implausible in some areas, Princess Angelica: Junior Reporter is still a fun read for fans of Jelly and her exuberant imagination.