This treasury stars all 12 Disney princesses, from Snow White to Moana, and features a durable, padded cover and beautiful full-page illustrations. Each of the twelve stories in this collection is the perfect length for reading aloud in about five minutes, making them perfect for jam-packed days. The princesses' latest adventures are the royal choice before bedtime, story time, or anytime!
Content: 1. Moana: A Path to the Sea - Tea Orsi 2. Belle's Flight - Tea Orsi 3. Pocahontas: The Winter Journey - Liz Marsham 4. Ariel Makes Waves - Liz Marsham 5. Aladdin: A Proper Princess - Suzanne Francis 6. Tangled: The Beauty of Mistakes - Thea C. Feldman 7. Mulan: The Dragon Boat Race - 8. Aurora Plays the Part - Tessa Roehl 9. Tiana's Growing Experiment - Brooke Vitale 10. Merida's Challenge - Cherie Gosling 11. Snow White and the Three Giants - Cherie Gosling 12. Cinderella: Opening Night - Bill Scollon
Listen. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, what am I doing giving four stars to a book of princess stories?
Well. I'll tell you. You see, I have a four-year-old daughter, and I'm a pretty big fan of the 5-minute bedtime story books for whatever thing she's into, be it Pete the Cat, Daniel Tiger (Daniel Tiger is always the best, forever), Star Wars, Peppa Pig, you name it. And lately, because Disney+ is a thing now, my daughter has fallen into a princess hole.
I know. There goes the neighborhood. I weep inside whenever a princess story becomes all about getting married to some bland dude. Ugh.
But that's where this book comes in. There is not a single story in this volume that is about getting married to a prince. Instead, the princesses do other things. And it's not about fighting, either (which I often feel is a cheap shorthand to female empowerment). Here, there's a story about Cinderella helping another girl realize her dreams of becoming a singer. A princess supporting another woman's dreams? Be still my heart! Rapunzel (hair already cut short and turned brown) runs an art class. Pocahontas saves a fawn. Tiana starts a garden to grow ghost peppers. Ariel gets lost with her sisters and finds a way home. The stories are nicely varied, and I absolutely appreciate how they broaden the scope of what these Disney princesses can achieve. I definitely prefer some to others, and the writing can be a little clunky (I think the Aurora story is a bit of a dud), but overall I'm really happy to have this book in the rotation, quietly shifting the frame on the Disney princess mythos.
I've read a few stories with the children and they enjoyed it, I have to say that I enjoyed reading them myself. Beautiful short stories with so many different lessons to learn with the Disney princesses as the main characters.
Some of these are fine. Some of them are awful. The Tiana one is the best. Sometimes I wonder what I've done to deserve having to read these bland, generic stories over and over and over, but hey, my kid loves them, so clearly they've done something right?
Beautiful illustrations with bonus/new short stories from some of my daughter's favorite Disney princesses! 🥰 This is still a go-to bedtime book, even though we have already read all of the stories in it at least 50 times each lol. Timeless classic imo!
Love the stories but it gets 3 stars because my 2 year old is ticked off everytime she sees rapunzel on the front cover with long blonde hair and the story inside she has her haircut. 😂
Beauty & the Beast: Belle's Flight Sophie is kind of the perfect friend for Belle and Maurice to meet between Maurice's inventions and Belle's thirst for books and everything she can read.
Pocahontas: The Winter Journey Rather than setting up camp with the rest of the villagers, Pocahontas finds a lost little foal that won't survive winter alone. Of course just as Pocahontas helps the little one find his family, Pocahontas has her own friends that will help her find her way back to hers.
Aladdin: A Proper Princess A little surprising given the events in the movie that Jasmine settles for watching the marketplace from a tree and not going over the wall to walk out and about among the people. Then again, that also wouldn't be what a "proper princess" would do, would it?
Tangled: The Beauty of Mistakes Rapunzel doesn't know how to be a princess when all her life she had to take care of the tower herself. Turns out, maybe there isn't a "right" way, just so long as she keeps trying and makes the best of whatever situation she finds herself in.
Mulan: The Dragon Boat Race The timing for this story is entertaining as the kids had just learned about dragon boat racing this summer. As usual, Mulan is out to try something new, and this time, she's got her whole village involved to prove what they can do together with a bit of teamwork and determination.
Sleeping Beauty: Aurora Plays the Part This is your traditional two friends meet and decide to swap places story. Of course, they end up getting caught, but they learn some new things along the way.
The Princess & the Frog: Tiana's Growing Experiment Tiana has always been the roll up your sleeves and do it yourself type of princess, and she doesn't stop that trend here. Now, she's learning how to garden to grow her own ingredients, and pulling Naveen and everyone else along for the ride.
Brave: Merida's Challenge Merida's three young brothers sure can get into a lot of trouble, but fortunately, they're also pretty good at helping each other out to fix it, especially when big sister is also there to help.
Snow White: Snow White & the Three Giants Snow White makes some unusual friends, but really, many of them are more alike than they think. With some creativity, Snow White is able to get the giants and the dwarfs together to see just how similar they really are.
Cinderella: Opening Night Cinderella seems to have a way with music and kindness that really gets through, even if time and time again, it seems as if her step-sisters have blocked her way. Fortunately, she doesn't let their sour attitudes get her down and continues to be a positive light.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
First off: This book is EXTREME good value for money. This giant, impressive tome fairly daunts my kid - who often asks for a "loooongggg" story (knowing how I try to shirk my bedtime reading duties). This book looks gigantic, especially in my kid's hands.
Second off: I was never a pretty little princess myself, and I went through a pretty intense feminist awakening in my early 20s, and I am all about "gender is performance". But I'm also kinda annoyed with the intense anti-fem backlash against things like pink frills and princesses and whatever. I consider it super basic to be, like, resisting your daughter's most hyper-fem performance because what the heck kinda message is that sending about fem behavior? The great feminist nirvana will not be all of us becoming a-gender or masculine leaning or dressed in beige. BRING THAT PINK GLITTER ON.
All that to say, the "5" of "5 minutes" is gigantic and glittery and the princesses are very princessy. THAT SAID, the values in these stories are all ace. There is nothing about heteronormative romance being a princess's only narrative arc. The stories pass the Bechdel test. Or would if they talked to more humans and less animals. Like, Moana surfs and rescues a sea turtle. Belle meets a steampunk science lady who pilots a hot air balloon. Cinderella meets up with an old friend who's now an opera diva, and who she (Cinderella) once encouraged in her (the old friend's) early musical career. SEE?! It's so healthy, so well-rounded, so not-about-dating.
The writing is meh and the art is meh. I spend a lot of time wondering what level of Disney animator you have to be to get assigned to draw these books. Is this like an intern project? I mean this with NO disrespect, only curiosity (I loooove Disney).
I don't know if this is luck of the draw or not, but this seems like a newer publication and has had a bit more effort put into these stories. 5-minute princess stories are inherently trite, but if they can celebrate an admirable characteristic or show some grit in overcoming an obstacle in five minutes then it is great. Most of these are pretty solid.
I read this book with my 6 year old daughter! We read one story each night and we both enjoyed it. Here are her thoughts:
- My favorite story was the last story about Cinderella. I like this book because of the princesses and Ariel was in it! She is my favorite. It made me have princess dreams. 🥹
I enjoyed reading the stories, it was written nicely. As a kid, I grew up watching Disney princesses and they played a main part in my life. It felt nice to read all about them again.
(4☆ Would recommend) My 3-year-old absolutely loves this book. The stories are short enough to keep her attention. This is a great book for bedtime story reading.
Me gustaron mucho las historias. El libro se me fue muy rápido y las ilustraciones me parecieron magníficas pues la mayoría abarcan toda la página. Un libro muy recomendado para todas las edades.
Tiana gets her prim friend to get dirty & garden. Merida saves her siblings from a cliff. Snow White meets giants. Cinderella encourages her friend to play the flute.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Belle meets Sophie and takes a ride in her hot air balloon. She helps her mend it when it gets damaged in a storm. As thanks Sophie takes Belle and Maurice to the French National Library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.