By Adria S. Griffith
The Adventures of Princess Crystal Colley featuring Diamonds in the Ruff is a creative children's book. It is featuring dogs whose names represent a fact having to do with the dog breeds and diamonds, how diamonds are made or where they are found.
The book opens describing each of the six canine characters, Princess Crystal Colley, Regent Roundhead, Orloff Komondor, Pretty Pebble Palace, Lamprolite Dewclaw and Feather Fissure. Each one has a diamond marking and sports an accessory that features different-colored diamonds. They reside as a cluster in the Upper Mantle Kingdom, as the upper mantle of the Earth's crust is where diamonds are found.
The main body of the text, in poetic form, relates the adventures of Princess Crystal Colley. She uses her imagination to travel to fantastic places and to perform creative activities, such as searching for a fountain of youth, exploring a mountain, carving her initials on a tree, acting and flying, creating great inventions and solving a maze puzzle. By using colorful illustrations, young readers are encouraged to use his or her own imagination to envision the characters and their adventures as well as dreaming of explorations of their own.
The age appropriate language, creative characterizations, and engaging plot in verse form will promote children's, 4-9, interest in beautiful and different gems and in using his or her imagination to travel to far-away places.