A WHILE ago, there was a meme that was doing the rounds that said a ‘vacation with children is simply a change of location’. In this picture book, we realise it is no different even for the king and the queen, as Princess Easy Pleasy demands, fusses, complains, whines and generally reminds us that travelling with children can be quite challenging (and exhausting) for anyone.

This hilarious adventure begins in Hong Kong, where the royal family are enjoying their winter vacation and Princess Easy Pleasy refuses to drink the milk because it isn’t like the milk she has at home. The Royal Packer is summoned, a diligent list is maintained and a cow is added to the next vacation to China. But, again, the food isn’t like the food she has at home, and so for the next vacation to Singapore, a chef with a pressure cooker, rice and vegetables is added. And so it goes, vacation after vacation, location after location (all wonderfully Asian), till Princess Easy Pleasy, the “impossible imp” asks for the same elephant from back home. In an absolutely inspired sequence of story and illustration, the elephant is stuffed into the airplane, the airplane struggles to breathe and then it bursts open, with exasperated adults and animals spilling out. In the end, the Queen agrees to a vacation only on one condition, and so Princess Easy Pleasy learns to appreciate and adjust to different cultures.

What I loved about this book, despite its obvious fantastical setting, is that this is the story of every home, and therefore, this is a book that needs to be in every home. Natasha’s brilliance shines through in her precise use of words and is a study of succinctness, while Priya Kuriyan’s illustrations are like the dash of sprinkles on ice cream – it adds colour, it makes patterns, it brings in the crunch to the story and it’s there till the very end. A special mention for the dark-skinned Queen, the travel-happy cow and that little signage in the end.

Pick this up, especially if you are planning that next locat...I mean, vacation!