I agree that girls and boys shouldn't be pushed towards particular models at an early age, and should be free to choose their own toys, books and clothes as they please. Yet I can't help feeling that there are double-standards at work – that while it is fine for girls to want to be pirates or aliens, when it comes to princesses and fairies, everyone would much rather girls would just forget about them (and perish the thought that boys might ever pick up such a book).
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Chloe longs to be a princess |
Is wanting to be a princess (at age seven) really so surprising? Consider this, if you are a princess you are:
- Important, however old you are, and because of this -
- Adults have to listen to you.
Of course, the fantasy is one thing, but real-life is more complicated. When they get muddled, there's all kinds of trouble! In my new book, Chloe and her two best friends are determined to be princesses. But ordinary life has a horrible habit of getting in the way. Unsympathetic parents who won't pay for dancing lessons, busy teachers who don't like frogs, annoying brothers who are...well, annoying: they all make Chloe's pursuit of princessdom a lot harder than she anticipated. Not that Chloe and her friends Aisha and Eliza will ever give up.
Princess books will keep being written, and published, just so long as there are dreamy little girls like Chloe out there longing to read them. Here follows a list of my ten favourite princess books.
1) Princess Smartypants
Who couldn't love the alligator-owning, motorcycle riding Princess Smartypants?
2) The Little Princess Series
By contrast this princess is very much a real toddler - constant cries of "I want"! - and her adventures are very grounded in real life.
3) The Worst Princess
A lovely rhyming text, and like Princess Smartypants, very much a twist on the traditional fairy tale.
5) Princess Grace

Grace discovers that you don't have to be blonde, or wear pink, to be a princess.
6) Princess Mirror-belle

Grace discovers that you don't have to be blonde, or wear pink, to be a princess.
6) Princess Mirror-belle

By Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson, naughty Princess Mirror-belle escapes from a mirror and causes all sorts of trouble!
5) The Rescue Princesses series

Perfect for newly independent readers - and with lots of titles to read - the Rescue Princesses series is about friendship, adventure and love of animals.
6) Princess (Dis)Grace
Funny, charming series about a clumsy princess going to boarding school.
7) The Young Elizabeth
One of my favourite reads growing up, this tells of the early life of Elizabeth Tudor (later Elizabeth I) who relied on her considerable wits to survive accusations of treason and imprisonment in the Tower of London and eventually become queen! (Now out-of-print, a good modern alternative might be My Royal Story by Kathryn Lasky.)
8) A Little Princess
One of my absolute favourites - and Chloe's too. The heroine, orphaned Sara Crewe, inspires Chloe to believe anybody can be a princess, if they believe they're a princess and act like a princess (not always an easy thing to do).
10. The Princess Diaries
New York high school student Mia discovers that she is next-in-line to inherit an European principality: witty, funny, sophisticated, this series of books inspired a successful film - and is very much in YA territory.
Having complied this list, I realise there are so many more I'd have liked to add. And plenty have been recommended to me too.
If you're still hungry for princess books then do not fear!
Some useful lists:
Goodreads - Princess tales
A Mighty Girl: Independent Princesses
Princess Books for Parents Who Hate Princess Books
Goodreads - Princess tales
A Mighty Girl: Independent Princesses
Princess Books for Parents Who Hate Princess Books
Some more great books...


Emma Barnes's book Chloe's Secret Princess Club is out now.
Find out more about Emma's books on her web-site.