Encouraging Americans to Vote with a Pro-Democracy Fairy Tale

‘Princess & the Pea-tition’ is a contemporary reimagining of the classic ‘Princess and the Pea’ fairy tale, reinterpreted to deliver a nonpartisan message about the value of democracy and participation in elections.

The book, which began life as a podcast in The Martin Agency’s ‘Now Upon a Time’ initiative, was written by the agency’s creative director Kim Nguyen, and illustrated by Libby VanderPloeg. Partnering with two pro-democracy charities, When We All Vote, created by Michelle Obama, and She Should Run, the book was published by Gloo Books and accompanied by an animated short film, created by SuperJoy’s Lyly Nguyen and voiced by SNL alum Melissa Villaseñor.

The daughter of Vietnamese refugees who had their democratic rights taken away, Kim has a deeply rooted passion for the topic, and was also inspired by her own four-year-old daughter, Quynh, to write the book, which aims to educate children as well as encourage their parents to register to vote.

LBB’s Ben Conway caught up with Kim to find out more.

LBB> Where did your passion for democracy come from? How has your relationship with politics changed in the last eight years or so?

Kim> I definitely got my pro-democracy indoctrination from my family. My parents are South Vietnamese refugees. They came to the United States in 1980, five years after the fall of Saigon. Their families had ties to South Vietnamese political leadership, so they were marked as ‘old regime’ and everything they had was taken away. Several of them were imprisoned and ‘re-educated’. So, I come from a family who actually had their freedom and democracy taken away. There were a lot of civics lessons and speeches about community responsibility in my house. 

The last eight years have been rough in the States and it seems similar elsewhere in the world. Political division is at its worst. People are angry, angsty, apathetic or all of the above. It’s hard to even read the news because it feels like 97% of it is just clickbait. While I do feel tired of all of that, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still a person in this country and in the world. However, like any other person, I have a voice and can use it. So as long as I’m doing something to contribute to the change I would like to see, then that’s all I can do.

LBB> Where did the idea for this book come from? Why did you choose to reimagine this fairy tale in particular?

Kim> Even when I was a little kid, I had always thought the ‘Princess and the Pea’ fairy tale was really weird. Why so many mattresses? Why a pea? She could feel it… so she’s a princess? It made no sense. So when I was thinking of rewriting a classic tale, that one came to mind immediately.

Then, starting from there, I asked the question: ‘What do I wish the princess did instead?’. The answer was: ‘Tell the queen that peas are really silly and show them a better way to rule the land’.

In a way, the story is also inspired by my daughter, because the Princess character is the type of person I hope she becomes – someone who isn’t afraid to say when things are ridiculous and then tries to change them. The illustration of the character is also based on my three-year-old daughter. I asked our illustrator to draw an older version of her, and that’s what Libby came up with.

Above: Kim Nguyen, creative director at The Martin Agency

LBB> This project is partnered with She Should Run and Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote - how did that come about? How did these nonprofits influence or inform the project?

Kim> From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to use the story as a national campaign to remind parents to register to vote. We also knew we needed a partner that had resources and a huge network in voter registration, and When We All Vote was our first choice. It’s a pro-democracy, nonpartisan nonprofit that’s working to register voters across the US. We approached them with this partnership and they were so enthusiastic about helping us get our registration tools in place. Each book now has a QR code that helps adults register to vote, and each of our book events also included a registration drive where volunteers helped people register to vote.

She Should Run is a group that I have always admired, and Libby, our illustrator, had previously done some work with them. It’s a nonpartisan nonprofit group that’s working to help women in the United States run for political office. They provide resources and guides on how to get started in that process. Since this story featured a strong female leader (and one who becomes the president), I loved the idea of tying our message to their mission. We gave She Should Run 100 copies of the book to give out to women who are running for office to use as a tool to engage parents in their campaigns. 

LBB> How did you design the book to educate both children and their adult caregivers?

Kim> I wanted to explain the concept of democracy simply enough that children would be like, ‘OK, cool. That makes sense’. People should get to choose a leader to represent them, and everyone should get one equal vote.

But I also wanted the story to be funny and easy to read because I knew parents would be reading out loud. So, there are a few lines or illustrations that are really for the adults – like the character Pete the Pea Farmer. He represents corporate interests and greed. There are people who like unjust systems to stay the way they are because it’s better for their business. Most kids will think he’s just a funny pea farmer, but adults will see the character for what he is. 

LBB> How was the writing process generally, as a first-time author? How long did it take, and what were some of the biggest challenges?

Kim> For me, the biggest challenge with writing is finding the time to just sit down and do it. I had the idea of the story in my head for weeks – months even. Every once in a while, I’d think of a funny line or character to add, which I’d write down in a note on my phone. For weeks I’d just collect those little notes until finally, I had enough to become a sort of outline for the whole thing. Then, in the two flights from Austin to Richmond (there are no non-stop flights), I turned off my wifi and had several uninterrupted hours to write. That became the first draft of the story.  

LBB> How did you get illustrator Libby VanderPloeg involved? What were the conversations like when discussing the visuals with her?

Kim> I think a bit of magic must have happened to get Libby involved. I’ve been a fan of her work for a very long time. Her political illustrations have been in the New Yorker, The New York Times, several book covers and brand partnerships. And when I was initially thinking about this book, her pear-shaped people were exactly what I had in my head.

As we were kicking off an illustrator search, the first person we happened to talk to was her rep, Kat, at Totally Reps. When I described the project to Kat, she said, ‘I have an illustrator who would be a great fit’. It was Libby. She said yes on the same day… It felt like something magically fell into place.

LBB> The book was originally a podcast, and has now also been made into an animated film - what are your favourite aspects of those versions? 

Kim> We made the podcast in like a day for fun at Martin in one of the sound booths downstairs. It was much longer and filled with a lot of audio jokes – I still really love that version because it has a ton of silly voices from people at the agency.

For this project, we took the bones of the podcast story and that became the book and the film simultaneously. It was a trip to work on both at once. Most of the illustrations are in the film and book, but each have their own special Easter eggs. For example, a portrait of my pug, Edgar, is in the background of a scene.

The film was so much fun to make. Lyly Nguyen at SuperJoy brought this simple but elegant pop-up book-inspired animation. The music score from Pull gave it this funny but epic feel. And of course, Melissa Villaseñor, who was on SNL, did 11 different character voices and was just hilarious. Her participation in this was truly a gift. She threw so much joy and silliness into the whole thing.

LBB> Why did you include a pledge card with the book? Why do you think it’s so important to engage young people in the democratic process so early?

Kim> I liked the idea of kids getting a little document to keep to remind them about the book and its message. That became the ‘I Promise to Vote’ page. You can tear out the last page of the book and have a kid sign it. I thought it was a funny idea to have a four-year-old sign a non-magical, non-binding contract to register to vote when they turn 18.

What I wanted most was for kids to begin to see the importance of elections, democracy and the impact of every person’s voice. The earlier we talk to kids about using their voice, the more they feel empowered to do so.