The Royal Treatment

May 1, 2004
Imagine that Alaska became its own country and that it is the present day and Alaska has a royal family, who, although they live in a palace in Juneau, are down-to-earth. The king, especially, enjoys going "native," growing a beard and chartering a fishing boat incognito. It is during one of these excursions that he decides that a fellow passenger would make a perfect wife for his eldest son, David. Christina is a wandering soul alone in the world, who not only ends up at the palace but quickly becomes a valued member of the household. She and David hit it off, but the day after their wedding, they are confronted with a crisis of major proportions. What's difficult to believe (once you get past picturing Alaska as a country) is that anyone would envision Christina as a princess: she has a mouth like a longshoreman. But it's fun to watch her and David, two opposite personalities, come together in Davidson's quirky tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)