What Is a Princess? Many Different Things...

The Disney princesses have sometimes come under fire for giving little girls unrealistic and unhealthy ideas about beauty and romance, but each Disney princess has traits that make her unique and admirable. The level one Step Into Reading book What Is a Princess?, written by Jennifer Liberts Weinberg and illustrated by Atelier Philippe Harchy, focuses on those positive characteristics.

What Is a Princess? includes six of the Disney princesses: Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel and Aurora (here called Briar Rose). With the exception of Ariel, who has six pages to herself, and Cinderella, who has seven, each young woman is the focus of four pages. With simple language and colorful, detailed illustrations, each small segment exemplifies one or two things that “a princess is.”

The book does a good job of showing that there is more to being a princess than simply looking pretty. Because of the wording, the implication is that all princesses have all of these traits, and that’s my main complaint here; perhaps it would be better if it said “can be” or “should be” instead of “is.” For instance, other princesses in the book, particularly Belle, are as brave as Jasmine when she stands up to Jafar, but bravery is certainly not Snow White’s strong suit. Still, the purpose is to demonstrate the many worthy characteristics that young girls can emulate in their everyday lives.

Cinderella, who in general seems to be slightly more prominent than the rest of the Disney princesses, is really the only one with a specifically feminine focus. “A princess like to dress up,” Weinberg writes. Elsewhere, we see Snow White give Grumpy a kiss on his head, but this is to illustrate her kindness. Other laudable qualities include being smart (Belle), a dreamer (Ariel) and polite (Briar Rose). The last one makes me chuckle a little because it looks as though she is being presented with her birthday dress by the fairies who raised her, which in the movie is swiftly followed by a meltdown. Well, at least the polite part came first.

This book is designed for very early readers, so the language is extremely simple. It makes sense, then, that the format is “A princess is,” even though that undermines their individuality a bit. A sentence beginning with that phrase appears seven times, with four other sentences using a slightly different format. Usually the sentence mentioning the attribute is followed by another sentence demonstrating it. For instance, “A princess is caring. Belle helps the Beast when he is hurt.” Of course, in context, Belle is technically not a princess yet, but everyone knows she will be.

What Is a Princess? is a simple but attractively illustrated book that should appeal to the princess-loving kindergarten crowd. Not every little girl may exhibit all of these traits, but it’s good to recognize that things like an adventurous spirit and a love of books are just important as the physical trappings of a princess. What’s more, these are the qualities that are really worth imitating.