tiny bridges

Inspired by a post by Jean of The Artful Parent, I wanted to share some books on Fiona’s favorite subject. Princesses. Particularly the brave and smart kind.

Like Jean and her daughter, we also love The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch, which you can hear him read here. All the recordings on Munsch’s site are excellent, his style is so perfectly expressed in his books.

Another favorite is Mary Pope Osborne. Her books include Sleeping Bobby, the handsome prince put to sleep for 99 years when he pricked his finger on a spindle on his birthday, Kate and the Beanstalk, about a brave young girl who reclaims her family’s inheritance when she climbs a beanstalk to a castle in the clouds and The Brave Little Seamstress, who takes on a giant, a wild boar and an army of 99 soldiers to win a kingdom. We’ve read all three from the library and really enjoyed them.

We’ve had Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman out of the library for over a month and I know there will be trouble when we have to take it back this week. In it, Grace (from the book Amazing Grace) is fascinated with beautiful fairy tale princesses and wants to be one until she and her friends start to think about what princesses really do and re-think their ideals.

In college I took a fairy tales class and and one of our text’s was Don’t Bet on the Prince, edited by Jack Zipes, a collection of Feminist Fairy Tales and Feminist Literary Criticism of Fairy Tales. It’s in three sections, the first has 9 stories that are aimed at younger readers. “The Princess Who Stood On Her Own Two Feet” tells the story of a princess who slowly gives up the things she loves for a handsome prince, only to find out that what she gained was not worth the price. Two stories tell of a quest with a different outcome than even the protagonist expected, one with a prince and the other with a princess. The second section of the book is definately not appropriate for young readers, and the final is feminist literary criticism, so skip those parts for kids.

Fancy Nancy by isn’t a princess, but she dresses like one and is not afraid of getting dirty. I do feel like the message of these books is worthwhile, be true to your self, do-it-yourself, it’s fancy to be polite and if speak French if you can’t remember the English for a thing. And they really do teach vocabulary, Fiona recently pronounced some cookies we made “delectable”.

Not too long ago we tried the Librivox version of A Little Princess, but she wasn’t quite ready yet. I think we’ll try it again soon. Sarah’s version of being a “real princess” is to treat others well no matter what your circumstances you are in, which is a lesson I can always use. (By the way, Librivox is looking for donations to continue operating. If you’re interested in free audio books the information is here.)

I’m waiting for the day when Fiona is old enough to enjoy the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede. Princess Cimerone can’t stand needlework or deportment lessons so she runs away to live with the dragons. She is capable, brave and resourceful. These books are so much fun in the way they play with the tropes of traditional fairy tales.

Finally, she also loves some of the older and more obscure tales from Grim, etc. I’ve had luck finding compilations at the library book sale. A particular favorite is “Snow White and Rose Red”. While the sisters don’t start as princesses, they do marry princes in the end and have to overcome obstacles on their own.

Finally, I hope that reading the traditional stories now will set her up to enjoy the many revised versions out there for older readers. There are probably hundreds available for pre-teens and teens, and I think that they really speak to the things that girls go through at those ages. Happy Reading!