Name: Up and down the Scratchy Mountains, or, The search for a suitable princess
ISBN: 9780375847196

Laurel Snyder

Lucy, a milkmaid, and her best friend Wynston, a reluctant prince, go in search of information about Lucy's missing mother--even though Wynston is supposed to be searching for a proper princess to marry.

Up and down the Scratchy Mountains, or, The search for a suitable princess

Sarah Sammis

It's a debut novel and it shows. I love the relationship between Wynston and Lucy but there are other scenes that feel like they've been written in the style of Tale of Despereaux. Snyder, though, has a much snarkier (and funnier) voice which doesn't come through as loudly and proudly as it does in more recent works. 

I would, though, love to revisit these characters when they were older and living as King and Queen in the dairy — with presumably the old palace converted into a barn.