New Book: Power to the Princess: 15 Favorite Fairytales Retold with Girl Power by Vita Murrow

Power to the Princess: 15 Favorite Fairytales Retold with Girl Power by Vita Murrow (Author) and Julia Bereciartu (Illustrator) was released late last year.

Book description:

What if princesses didn’t always marry Prince Charming and live happily ever after? In this stunning anthology—elegantly presented in a red, clothbound hard cover with gold-toned metallic debossing—15 favorite fairytales have been retold for a new generation. These princesses are smart, funny, and kind, and can do anything they set their minds to.

Focused on issues including self-image, confidence, LGBTQ, friendship, advocacy, and disability, these stories are perfect for sharing between parents and children, or for older princesses or princes to read by themselves. They teach that a princess is a person who seeks to help others, is open to learning new things, and looks for ways to add purpose to their lives and the lives of those around them.

Get reacquainted with these powerful princesses:

• Snow White—champion of real beauty
• Sleeping Beauty—specialist on sleeping disorders
• Thumbelina—music producer and advocate
• Rapunzel—world-famous architect
• Belle the Brave—undercover agent
• Elisabeth and the Wild Swans—fashion designer
• Cinderella—prime minster and businesswoman
• Star and the 12 Dancers—dancer
• The Goose Girl—stand-up comedian
• Princess Sevinah (and the Pea)—founder of the Fairyland Dating Service
• The Snow Queen—winter sports coach
• The Little Mermaid—advocate for peace between mer-people and humans
• Zade—storyteller (of 1001 tales) and businesswoman
• Evangeline (The Frog Princess)—natural historian
• Little Red Riding Hood—environmentalist and Princess of the Wolves

New Book: In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine

In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine was released in March. This is another entry in the long standing argument about princesses and princess culture, especially as fostered by Disney, and thus fairy tales are pulled into the fray.

Book description:

It’s no secret that most girls, at some point, love all things princess: the poofy dresses, the plastic tiaras, the color pink. Even grown-up women can’t get enough of royal weddings and royal gossip. Yet critics claim the princess dream sets little girls up to be weak and submissive, and allows grown women to indulge in fantasies of rescue rather than hard work and self-reliance.

Enter Jerramy Fine – an unabashed feminist who is proud of her life-long princess obsession and more than happy to defend it. Through her amusing life story and in-depth research, Fine makes it clear that feminine doesn’t mean weak, pink doesn’t mean inferior, and girliness is not incompatible with ambition. From 9th century Cinderella to modern-day Frozen, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton, from Wonder Woman to Princess Leia, Fine valiantly assures us that princesses have always been about power, not passivity. And those who love them can still be confident, intelligent women.

Provocative, insightful, but also witty and personal, In Defense of the Princess empowers girls, women, and parents to dream of happily ever after without any guilt or shame.

Here are two page shots to be read as an excerpt for your consideration, pages 33 & 34 of the book. You can click on these images to see them larger for reading or go to Amazon and look inside the book viewer to read them there.

I haven't read the entire book but skimmed with some keyword searches of the text. The argument that the literary tales often offer strong women to be used as role models is one I think we overall agree with here in the SurLaLune fandom. 

So here's book that uses studies/research and personal experiences to create an offering from a Princess culture apologist. Add it to your lists if this is one of your topics of interest!

New Book: The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years by Rebecca Hains

The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years by Rebecca Hains was released last week, the latest in the books about Princess Culture--especially that spawned by Disney's marketing machine. Since fairy tales usually get painted by this brush, I thought I would share. The book only references "fairy tale" itself 14 times but of course, fairy tale heroines are the discussion, at least those as portrayed in popular culture.

My thoughts on some of this appeared in my post almost four years ago for New Book: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture and More Cinderella Ate My Daughter.

These days my four-year-old niece is Disney princess obsessed which has one of her grandmothers--my mother--more than a little twitchy. Their playtime consists of lines from my mother like, "Oh Cinderella, you are pretty in your dress and slippers but I am really interested in a smart girl who went to college." I observed such last week when I visited. So I understand the concern of all and am curious to see how this all pans out in my own family. I'm not too worried because this niece--my second one--is extremely independent and she is going to get plenty of alternate fairy tale imagery in the years to come since she is related to me. And when I share stories with her, she is quite thrilled with Three Billy Goats Gruff. But, yes, she is princess obsessed which can be disconcerting to those who love her. The first niece, now 11, had her Disney phase but it wasn't as long or enduring. She hasn't been interested in a princess in years. These days she wants to be either a scientist astronaut or a super villain depending on her mood.

Book description:

How to Raise Empowered Girls in a Princess World

It's no secret that little girls love princesses. Behind the twirly dresses and glittery crowns, however, sits a powerful marketing machine, encouraging obsessive consumerism and delivering negative stereotypes about gender, race, and beauty to young girls. So what's a parent to do?

The Princess Problem features real advice and stories from parents, educators, psychologists, and children's industry insiders to help equip every parent with skills to navigate today's princess-saturated world. As parents, we do our best to keep pop culture's most harmful stereotypes away from our kids, but contending with well-meaning family members and sneaky commercials can thwart us.

The Princess Problem offers language to have honest conversations with our kids and shows us how to teach them to be thoughtful, open-minded people.

Bargain Ebook: The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye has been charming readers for several decades now. I received an alert today that the ebook price has dropped to $3.59 from $5.12. I own it in hardcover, but it's always nice to have a more portable electronic version. I also appreciate that the publisher managed to not pretty up Amy too much on the cover. Always nice when the cover reflects the actual book contents, yes?

Book description:

Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to everyone's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!

Fairy Tales in Stitches Week: Tiny Modernist Designs

Hansel and Gretel

Tiny Modernist doesn't have many fairy tale themed designs in their cross stitch patterns line, but I wish they did since I really like the Hansel and Gretel design above. The one below is titled "Cute Princess" and is just that without a definite fairy tale in mind although there is that ubiquitous frog in the design.

Cute Princess

All of these images came from 123Stitch.com. I am not affiliated with them but for convenience I recommend 123stitch for acquiring these patterns. I have a favorite local shop in Nashville, but they don't do online orders. I have used 123stitch personally in the past and liked their service, so I feel okay offering them as a resource link.

The Princess Creativity Book

(US / UK Links)

The Princess Creativity Book: Includes Stickers, Fold-Out Scene, Stencils, and Pretty Paper is part of a large line of Creativity books published internationally, see the UK edition here. Three of the books, including this one, draw inspiration from classic fairy tales. These are the types of books I adored as a kid and I find them tempting now. My youngest niece is nearing the perfect age for these, so they are going on my list.

I'm going to give each of the three books a separate post because I have images from each title to share and don't want to confuse the sources or books.

Book description:

Certain to please every little princess who enjoys crafts and activities, this big, fun-packed book has pictures to color, sticker sheets for decorating a gatefold sticker scene, stencils for drawing, decorated paper for fashioning crafts items, mazes and puzzles to solve, directions for making a princess crown, princess games to play with friends, and much more. Every little girl wants to be a princess, and this book encourages her with--

An Are You a Real Princess? quiz presenting questions for her to answer
Instructions for making a Royal Proclamation Poster she can attach to her bedroom door
An insert-and-press-out sheet she can use to construct models of a Princess and Prince
A Fortune Teller cut-out to predict her own magic future . . . and much more

No story about a princess is complete without a Wicked Queen, and girls will find directions for completing a Wicked Queen picture, plus more drawing activities that include designing new hairdos, solving dot-to-dot puzzles, and sketching in the missing items in Cinderella's photo album. Little girls will discover fun-to-do activities on every page of this fascinating book, along with illustrations to inspire their imaginations and stimulate their creative dreams.

More books in the series, not all will be highlighted on the blog:

Bargain Ebook: The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze

Amazon has a Splash Into Summer Book Sale sale going on for a few days and several of the titles are fairy tale related. I'm going to give each title it's own post today.

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze is well-reviewed overall so don't let the nom de plume scare you off. It, too, is $2.99 today and really isn't as much fairy tale as post-apocalyptic princess. But we all need a dose of that on  occasion, right? In an English setting. That's Parliament on the cover... The reviews do warn that it is violent and dark, so beware unless that is your exact taste for summer escapism.

Book description:

Happily ever after is a thing of the past.

A series of natural disasters has decimated the earth. Cut off from the rest of the world, England is a dark place. The sun rarely shines, food is scarce, and groups of criminals roam the woods, searching for prey. The people are growing restless.

When a ruthless revolutionary sets out to overthrow the crown, he makes the royal family his first target. Blood is shed in Buckingham Palace, and only sixteen-year old Princess Eliza manages to escape. Determined to kill the man who destroyed her family, Eliza joins the enemy forces in disguise. She has nothing left to live for but revenge, until she meets someone who helps her remember how to hope-and love-once more.

Now she must risk everything to ensure that she does not become . . .

The Last Princess.

$1.99 Bargain Ebooks: E. D. Baker and Helen Castor

Hello folks, I will get back to regular posting soon--the blog is not dying, I'm just BUSY--but here's a TODAY only bargain ebook, a recent release. Unlocking the Spell: A Tale of the Wide-Awake Princess (Tales of the Wide-Awake Princess) by E. D. Baker is $1.99 today only. And it was only released this past October. I heard Baker talk about it at the Southern Festival of Books a few weeks later and my admiration for her only grew.

And you want this one, because it's inspired by Snow White and Rose Red. How often does that happen? Not very. And the reviews for it are great. It's a companion book to The Wide-Awake Princess which also happens to be $1.99.

Book description for Unlocking the Spell:

Bears, princes, witches, dwarves, and other fanciful fairy tale creatures step out in this charming story about Annie and her sister Gwendolyn ... and Gwendolyn’s beloved prince, Beldegard the Bear. You see, Beldegard is only human when he’s near Annie, so Gwendolyn is desperate to find the evil dwarf who turned Beldegard into a bear in the first place, and reverse the terrible spell. But Annie has just traipsed all over the kingdom to free her sister from the Sleeping Beauty spell...will she want to set out on a magical quest once more? Or has she had enough of watching her sister gaze lovingly into Beldegard’s eyes?

With trademark humor and many delightful twists, E. D. Baker brings us back to a magical land that offers many layers of fun and fantasy.

And while we're here, talking about princesses and queens and all, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor is also $1.99 for a short time. Ha, when you see the recommendation blurb by Hilary Mantel who's managed to get herself from press this past week.

Book description:

“Helen Castor has an exhilarating narrative gift. . . . Readers will love this book, finding it wholly absorbing and rewarding.” —Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall

In the tradition of Antonia Fraser, David Starkey, and Alison Weir, prize-winning historian Helen Castor delivers a compelling, eye-opening examination of women and power in England, witnessed through the lives of six women who exercised power against all odds—and one who never got the chance. Exploring the narratives of the Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Margaret of Anjou, and other “she-wolves,” as well as that of the Nine Days' Queen, Lady Jane Grey, Castor invokes a magisterial discussion of how much—and how little—has changed through the centuries.

Bargain Ebook: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

 

The Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, has dropped temporarily to $1.99 in ebook format. It may be a today only deal--I don't know, it was $4.61 when I saw it yesterday--so don't wait. The book is also the sequel to Hale's latest release, Princess Academy: Palace of Stone which is currently $9.99.

Book description for Princess Academy:

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess, Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and even bandits intent on kidnapping the future princess.

New Book: Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale was released last week and has been eagerly anticipated by many fans so I had to mention here at SurLaLune. It is the sequel to Hale's Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy, of course.

Book description:

Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city is a thrill to Miri. She and her princess academy friends have been brought to Asland to help the future princess Britta prepare for her wedding.There, Miri also has a chance to attend school-at the Queen's Castle. But as Miri befriends students who seem sophisticated and exciting she also learns that they have some frightening plans. Torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city, Miri looks to find her own way in this new place. Picking up where Princess Academy left off, and celebrating the joys of friendship, romance and the fate of fairy tale kingdoms, this new book delivers the completely delightful new story that fans have been waiting for.