I was accepted to give a paper for Sirens again, this time about princesses in picture books. (Last year, I did one on haunted toys in middle grade lit.) So, it’s getting down to the wire, it seems, even though I won’t read until October. You see, I set a task that is possibly ginormous; I’m even now paring down what to focus on lest my brain explode. This week, I had to go through an email folder where I’d emailed myself a bunch of links (and a phone folder of photos I took in bookstores instead of writing things down), so this is where I’m starting with my review of what a princess looks/is/feels/subtexts like in picture books. I’m trying to limit things to post-2000ish picture books, and trying to look at the more generic princesses in books and on covers, rather than fairy tale retellings (which I will look at for reference and interest and argument), though I reserve the right to throw in a few, as well as a few nonfiction princess books. I’m also looking more at books that I think may have had a wider release; in other words, I will not be looking at certain books that are maybe only available through subscription services and the like.
Here’s what my research has netted so far. I’m sure I’ll find more as I continue–and I really hope my local library has some of these in circulation.
Note that I haven’t checked over any of these yet–they’re not yet using the same format, I didn’t always note the illustrator or author, I didn’t take down publisher, etc. This is very preliminary!
Books for paper:
The Knight and the Dragon, Tomie de Paola (1980)
The Paper Bag Princess, Robert Munch (1992)
Princess Furball, Charlotte Huck ill. Anita Lobel (1994) *reprint
The Paper Princess, Elisa Kleven (1994)
Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole (1997)
At Her Majesty’s Request: An African Princess in Victorian England, Walter Dean Myers (1999)
The Princess and the Dragon, Audrey Wood (2002)
Princesses Are Not Quitters, Kate Lum (2002)
The Princess and the Pizza, Mary Jane Auch (2003)
The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be, Mini Grey (2003)
Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?, Carmela LaVigna Coyle ill. Mike Gordon and Carl Gordon (2003)
African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa’s Royal Women, Joyce Hansen (Author) Laurie McGaw (Illustrator) (2004)
Long Live Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole (2004)
The Princess Knight, Cornelia Funke ill. Kerstin Meyer (2004)
Do Princesses Really Kiss Frogs?, Carmela LaVigna Coyle ill. Mike Gordon (2005)
Princess Smartypants Rules, Babette Cole (2005)
Sleeping Bobby, Mary Pope Osborne, Will Osborne, ill. Gisele Potter (2005)
Falling for Rapunzel, Leah Wilcox ill. Lydia Monks (2005)
Rapunzel, Rachel Isadora (2008)
Princess Grace, Mary Hoffman ill. Cornelius Van Wright ill. Ying-Hwa Hu (2008)
Waking Beauty, Leah Wilcox ill. Lydia Monks (2008)
Don’t Kiss the Frog!: Princess Stories with Attitude, Fiona Waters ill. Ella Burfoot (2008)
The Princess and the Pea, Rachel Isadora (2009) *check date, mention other work; these are reprint?
The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Rachel Isadora (2009)
The Princess and the Pea, Carol Ottolenghi (2009) *date
Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated), Florence Parry Heide ill. Lane Smith (2009)
Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, Jane Yolen (2010)
The Very Fairy Princess, Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton (2010)
Princess Pigtoria and the Pea, Pamela Duncan Edwards, ill. Henry Cole (2010)
The Secret Lives of Princesses, Philippe Lechermeier ill. Rébecca Dautremer (2010)
Do Princesses Have Best Friends Forever?, Carmela LaVigna Coyle ill. Mike Gordon and Carl Gordon (2010)
There Was an Odd Princess Who Swallowed a Pea, Jennifer Ward (2011)
The Princess and the Pig, Johnathan Emmett ill. Polly Bernatene (2011)
Princess in Training, Tammi Sauer ill. Joe Berger (2012)
Princess and the Peas and Carrots, Harriet Ziefert (2012)
Sofia the First, Catherine Hapkia ill. Grace Lee (2012)
Dangerously Ever After, Dashka Slater ill. Valeria Docampo (2012)
Truly, We Both Loved Beauty Dearly!: The Story of Sleeping Beauty as Told by the Good and Bad Fairies (The Other Side of the Story), by Trisha Speed Shaskan (Author), Amit Tayal (Illustrator), Terry Flaherty (Consultant Editor), Beehive Illustration (Contributor) (2013) *Only one in series that seems to acknowledge?
The Princess and the Peas, Caryl Hart, ill. Sarah Warburton (2013)
Part-time Princess, Deborah Underwood ill. Cambria Evans (2013)
Princesses on the Run, Smiljana Coh (2013)
Not Every Princess, Jeffery Bone and Lisa Bone ill. Valeria Docampo (2014)
The Worst Princess, Anna Kemp (2014)
The Princess and the Pony, Kate Beaton (2015)
Interstellar Cinderella, Deborah Underwood ill. Meg Hunt (2015)
My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess, Heath McKenzie (2015)
For contrast and reference (retellings, mostly Cinderella):
http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Warja-Lavater/title/Snow-White-Blanche-Neige (1974)
Yeh-Shen, Ai-Ling Louie (1982)
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, John Steptoe (1987)
The Egyptian Cinderella, Shirley Climo ill. Ruth Heller (1989)
Snow White in New York, Fiona French (1990)
The Korean Cinderella, Shirley Climo ill. Ruth Heller (1993)
Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella, Jewell Reinhart Coburn (Author), Tzexa Cherta Lee (Author), Anne Sibley O’Brien (Illustrator) (1996)
Sootface, Robert D. San Souci (1997) *reprint
Prince Cinders, Babette Cole (1997)
Bubba, the Cowboy Prince, Helen Ketteman ill. James Warhola (1997)
The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story, Rebecca Hickox ill. Will Hellenbrand (1998)
Bigfoot Cinderrrrrella, Tony Johnston ill. James Warhola (1998)
Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella, Alan Schroeder ill. Brad Sneed (2000)
The Irish Cinderlad, Shirley Climo ill. Loretta Krupinski (2000)
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella, Susan Lowell ill. Jane Manning (2000)
Cinderella Skeleton, Robert D. San Souci, David Catrow (2000)
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story, Judy Sierra ill. Reynold Ruffins (2000)
Fair, Brown & Trembling: An Irish Cinderella Story, Jude Daly (2000)
Little Gold Star: A Spanish American Cinderella Tale, Robert D. San Souci ill. Sergio Martinez (2000)
The Persian Cinderella, Shirley Climo ill. Robert Florczak (2001)
Raising Dragons, Jerdine Nolen ill. Elise Primavera (2002)
Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella, Robert D. San Souci, ill. Brian Pinkney (2002)
The Elves and the Shoemaker, ill Jim La Marche (2003) *just see cover art
King and King, Linda de Haan ill. Stern Nijland (2003)
The Salmon Princess: An Alaska Cinderella Story, Mindy Dwyer (2004)
The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece, Anthony Manna (Author), Christodoula Mitakidou (Author), Giselle Potter (Illustrator) (2011)
Anklet for a Princess: A Cinderella Story from India, by Meredith Babeaux Brucker (Author), Lila Mehta (Author) (2012)
Cinderella Stories around the World: 4 Beloved Tales, Cari Meister (2014)
Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella, Myrna J. de la Paz (Author), Youshan Tang (Illustrator) (2014)
Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella, Jewell Reinhart Coburn ill. Eddie Flotte (2014)
Princess Wannabe, Leslie Lammle (2014)
Domítíla: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition, Hewell Reinhart Coburn ill. Connie McLennan (2014)
Not even touching stuff like Princess Ponies
Out of age range: The Princess in Black
http://time.com/3908787/miss-piggy-feminist/
http://io9.com/10-subversive-princess-stories-that-are-the-perfect-ant-1710110878
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoPtMvFAeA
http://bookriot.com/2015/07/07/i-read-princess-books-because-im-a-feminist/
Look into all those articles on “princess” phenom
