Fairy Tales

We all are familiar with fairy tales, and probably even have our very favorite.  In most fairy tales a handsome young prince comes to the rescue of a beautiful princess and the live happily ever after.  In recent years popular culture has taken to rewriting fairy tales to show the female stepping up to save the day and not needing "Prince Charming" to come to her rescue.  So if you know a little girl who likes to take charge and do her own rescuing The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, is the perfect book for her.

The Paper Bag Princess starts out much like any other fairy tale with a beautiful princess and handsome prince about to get married.  However, before Princess Elizabeth and Prince Ronald could get married a fiery dragon burns Princess Elizabeth's clothes and escapes with Prince Ronald.

Princess Elizabeth immediately took charge and set off to rescue her prince, wearing only a paper bag (everything else had been burned to a crisp!).  She finds the dragons lair and tricks him into performing different tricks until he was too exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.  While the dragon is sleeping Princess Elizabeth finds Prince Ronald who immediately complains about her dirty hair and paper bag clothes, not even thanking her for rescuing him.  Elizabeth is so put off by his rudeness that she promptly leaves him and there is no wedding after all!

What confidence Princess Elizabeth has to not only rescue the prince but to realize she can do better than someone who only likes her for her pretty looks and nice clothes!  Way to go Princess Elizabeth!

What is your favorite girl-power "fairy tale?" I would love to share more!

Happy Reading!
Laura