The Paper Bag Princess

 By Robert Muncsch
Illustrated by Michael Martchenko

I've always hated the whole princess thing.  My daughter talks about being a princess all the time, for instance, just because everyone tells her that she is one.  But if you ask her what a princess is, she'll give you a very vague confused answer.  She has no idea what it is.  Why do they call her princess?  What do they think it means to her?  Why do we have these weird expectations that all girl aspire to be wealthy layabouts with ties to authority but no real authority of their own?  There are many articles about the Princess complex, so I think that's about as far into it as I'll go today.

  I never realized just how much I hated the princess thing until I started reading fairy tales to my daughter.  It probably didn't help that I started with "The Princess and the Pea".  Or that in the version that I read, the prince and princess were 12 and didn't spend more than a couple hours in each other's company before they were married.

But it's all good, because "The Paper Bag Princess" exists to balance out all of that nonsense.  It's so important to learn that sometimes princes are selfish jerks that aren't worth the effort.  So have the self confidence to go it alone!

Also, sitting around in a castle all day wearing fancy dresses is much less fun than running around the countryside in a paper bag outwitting dragons.