Princess Pru’s life is practically perfect, with “two loving dads, an ostrich named Orville, and three royal tarantulas.” The only thing marring this picture is the hulking, fearsome ogre who just moved in nearby, with crusty toenails and breath “like socks dunked in rotten-egg soup.” His behavior is bad, too: he disrupts her royal rock band rehearsals, tickle tag games, and royal hid-and-seek tournament.
Pru wonders, however, if he is just lonely. She asks her dad if she can throw him a welcome party, and they refuse. She thinks they’re being overprotective.
Soon, though, the palace receives alarming reports about the ogre, who has been seen buying ten dozen chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles, cartloads of potato chips, ice cream, and soda, and construction paper, glitter glue, and balloons. He then commits a “chilling act”: sending everyone in the kingdom a message to come to his house Saturday at 2 for a “big surprise.”
The kings worry that the ogre is planning to turn them into a stew or force them to trim his toenails. Pru, however, puts on her fanciest outfit and heads up the hill—correctly guessing that the ogre is throwing a party. Following her lead, the kings and the people of the kingdom join the ogre (whose name is Oggy) for a delightful afternoon playing ogre games and eating “ogre-licious” cupcakes.
Pru and Oggy become close friends—and it turns out, he’s just what her royal rock band needed!
An amusingly told story with a light message about being empathetic and not making assumptions.
Pru and one dad read as White; the other reads as South Asian.
