… that was the challenge my sister brought my way today.  It seems that the Disney Princesses have landed in her no-licensed-characters-please household.  My niece, an insatiable, ravenous, non-stop reader, is in love with the book. She calls it “the singing book,” as you can push buttons to hear audio. 

We think it’s the audio, and not the pretty dresses, that is the source of the appeal, but it got my sister a bit worried about the inevitable onslaught of Disney characters who don’t find happiness until they are connected to a man.  It’s just not who our already-had-a-broken-leg-and-stitches daredevil niece is. Especially at 2-1/2 years old.

The princess-ification of young girls is everywhere in current children’s lit — guides to how to be a princess, Fancy Nancy, and the ‘Licious picture books (Pinkalicious, Purplicious, Goldalicious).  But what new princess books are out there, for the picture book crowd, that feature strong heroines who aren’t looking for Prince Charming? Alas, even Heide & Smith’s delightful new Princess Hyacinth, though (like us) height-challenged, is saved by a Boy. 

What recommendations do you have for us?

(In the meantime, my niece and I read this book TWICE in the library today and then spent the next few hours saying — no doubt to the annoyance of others in the car — “How do YOU wokka-wokka?” “Like a clock-a ticka-tocka.  How do YOU wokka-wokka?” And yes, having had the day off from school, I did spend it going to a public library.  Sigh.)

UPDATES

Via Twitter, Joanne reminded me of Munsch’s Paperbag Princess (many others suggested it, too, as did Lydia in the comments below) and suggested Cuyler’s Princess Bess Gets Dressed).

Miriam recommended Babette Cole’s Princess Smartypants (see the author reading it here).  I see on Amazon that there are a few follow-up titles, too! 

Lydia (below) also suggested Fa Mulan, Robert San Souci’s version of Mulan.

Laura (below) recommends the Do Princesses … series and points to this link.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.