Reviews
This is Robert Munsch at his best and is his second most popular book. This was published in 1980 when there was a dearth of children's books about strong girls being heroes; by the time my kids were growing up there were more, but this was still one of the best of the bunch. That holds true even today. Who says girls can't rescue princes?
When I was growing up, The Paper Bag Princess was one of my go to books. I'm not kidding, I knew that story inside out and could recite it without the book. As I got older, I lost that ability to recite this book without hesitation, but the memories are still there. This book holds a special place in my heart! Robert Munsch is a genius! So, as the story suggests there is a Princess. Her name is Elizabeth! She is beautiful, lives in a big fancy castle, is engaged to Ronald, and has everything her heart could desire. And then a dragon comes along and ruins everything (like most girl's everyday life - obviously). Prince Ronald has been carried away and all of her belongings are gone! So, like most girls these days, she put on her best paper bag and went off to save the Prince! And how will she battle this wretched dragon? With her smarts! This story gave me Shrek vibes before I even watched Shrek. It's not your average fairy tale and it's quite amusing! Elizabeth is a sassy yet relatable girl with some interesting (yet amusing) problems. I love that the Princess is the hero (and this is 40 years old, so Princesses weren't always kicking butt and taking names like they do today) and that she's wicked smart. I also love that in the end she stands up for herself and doesn't do what's expected of her. This book definitely added in to my spunky behaviour as an adult. The art work doesn't connect with me as much as it did when I was a kid. Of course, my style and preferences has changed but I still think the pictures work with the story. As always, the cover is what really stuck with me. I did like the forewards in this book - Chelsea Clinton and Francesca Segal share some sweet stories that I connect with. This book is a special part of childhood history for many people, so it was nice to see it wasn't just me who was obsessed with this book! Overall, this is still one of my must read books. I'm glad this book is still circulating around and I hope many more girls pick up this butt kicking book and share it with the world! Five out of five stars. I'd give it more if possible! Thank you to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for letting me travel back to my youth with this arc review. Seriously, I can hear my reading buddies chanting "Hey Dragon, Hey Dragon."
This was a funny picture book but I don’t know that kids would enjoy it. It’s humor that seems just adult enough to me that they wouldn’t find it funny but hopefully I’m wrong!
It's actually intresting reading this book again and having a new perspective on it. I love the illustrations in this book. Robert Munsch books were my favourite books as a kid.
4.5
Excellent story; illustrations aren't my favorite. Who needs a stupid prince anyways?
A girl-empowering gem found in an ocean of books about frilly princess or adventurous boys. Not that there is anything wrong with those, per se, but when it comes to they point that those stereotypes become the norm for gender identity, then we really need to rethink our children's stories. This picture book is quite short and straight forward. It is about a princess who was going to marry a prince, and once the prince is kidnapped by a dragon, she goes off to rescue him and defeat the dragon herself. The premise is great, the princess's way of defeating the dragon, a little cruel (and cunning - that is one Slytherin princess, not a Gryffindor), but I think we can give it some discount, since she doesn't actually commit any violent acts. The prince is rescued, but not too happy about it, since the princess, in rescuing him and failing to conform to society's expectations of what a princess should be like or look like, has diminished his own role and threaten the very foundations of that society - she is no longer a proper princess. The princess, needless to say, could not care less what the prince thinks of her, and I can only assume she will go on to live adventures and meet more interesting people along the way. I say, give little girls this book to read. Not instead of other princess books, but in addition to it. So they can see that there are many different kinds of princesses in the world.
