Top 5 Un-Princessy Princess Books

(actually there are six – but ‘Top 6’ doesn’t have the same ring to it!)

There is a plethora of books about princesses and most small children go through a princess phase – hard to avoid! However too much reading about tiaras, gowns, princes, weddings and riches can only end badly, so I’m always on the lookout for books about princesses where the status quo is turned upside down.

The following is a list my fav books about strong, independent, brave, ridiculous and funny princesses.

Speaking of turning the princess thing upside down…below is my all-time fav painting by PudStar. It’s called ‘Princess with Cavities’ and it hangs in our bathroom.

Top 5 Un-Princessy Princess Books

Click on the cover image or title to add these books to your home, school or classroom library.

‘The Paperbag Princess’ is of course the first one that comes to mind, and I’m sure many of you own this modern classic already. Princess Elizabeth is beautiful and rich and about to marry Prince Ronald, until a dragon destroys her castle and flies off with Ronald. But Elizabeth is a resourceful girl and, left with nothing to wear but a paper bag, she sets out to find her prince.

Again, this one is a bit of a modern classic! Princess Princess Smartypants does NOT want to get married; she’d rather stay single. The Wacky Princess Smartypants is one of Babette Cole’s best loved characters and deservedly so!
Lily-Rose May will not eat her peas! The local GP diagnoses an incurable case of Princess-itus and sends Lily to live at the local palace. Sadly for Lily Rose May, life at the palace is not all tiaras and pink…in fact it turns out that it is fairly boring. My mum purchased this book for PudStar nearly two years ago and Dan and I can pretty much recite this book. It has remained a firm favourite and I suspect is the reason Pud did NOT become enamored with all things princess!

Okay so they prince and prince DO marry in this one! But it’s a fabulous story about a prince who wants to marry a princess who likes hockey and camping. I always get a giggle out of this fab re-telling of the ‘Princess and Pea’ story – especially the last page!

Oh yay! You can still be a princess and be yourself! This one is a great one for young ones who really truly just want to be a princess…but who maybe don’t fit the image. In ‘Not all Princesses Wear Pink’ we see princesses playing in the mud, building tree houses with power tools, playing baseball and doing all manner of un-princessy things whilst still wearing their tiaras.

Three bored Princess decide they have to do something different. Something that will entertain them and take their minds off their lives of luxury. So they swap places with three servants and discover how much WORK the rest of the world has to do. This is a great one for a ‘walk in someone else’s shoes’ discussion.

I hope these books balance out the pink princessy books for your family or school library! Let me know some more I can add to the list!