Member Reviews
Super cute illustrations. A wonderful first time reader book; and a message that resonates no matter the age, race, sexuality, or differences between children. But the best part (at least to me) is that this little girl has two daddies! I'm a total suck for gay couples raising babies.
Our little girl, Chloe, tries to define what a princess looks like. She stumbles along the way, and isn't super happy with her result; until her Daddies find a way, to make what our little gal sees as a flaw, an exact replica of her vision and desires! It's truly adorable, perfect for any little girl or child that dreams of being a princess (or a prince!). And it's a story that your children just might carry into adolescence and beyond.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Not all princesses are the same. This book shows that you don't have to be perfect or fit in a cookie cutter to be a princess.
I liked the message of each princess having different strengths and the focus is not on looks. It was nice to see a variety of different ideas of what a princess looks like and there were inclusions of different family styles with a m-m parent set. I like any story that strays from the stereotypical princess but I don’t mind the word “princess” like some people do. I think “princess” is an ideal for a lot of girls and is ingrained in fairy tales so it is important to acknowledge that while at the same time, change the image of what the word might mean. I like that it doesn’t send a message that “princess” and pretty dresses and jewels aren’t BAD. They just aren’t the ONLY meaning of princess. The illustrations were cute also even though it isn’t the usual style of illustrations I enjoy. Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Cute with a great story line. Like the dads approach. Read it to my four year old and she liked it, didnt question there being two dads the only thing she didnt like was the art work. I thought it was a cute short story with a positive message and well done to the author for creating it. 4 stars for the art work (not my style) and thought it could have used some more words of wisdom about being kind and acting like a princess.
What Does a Princess Really Look Like is very insightful about how each princess could have different strengths.
We paid attention to the words like 'observant' and 'unkind'. We (My daughter and I) learned to use our voice to stand up for the right.
We even learned about pi (a side detour on PBS). The illustrations are very cute. The story grew incrementally showing how thoughts, what we pay attention to, how we use our voice can make a difference.
Great for all the princesses in my life! Wonderful story that reminds princesses that looks are not the most important thing; character is.
I didn't care for this story. I found it boring and it wasn't near as interesting as most princess stories.
If you are asked to create a drawing of a princess what will she look like? What are her characteristics? Would you go back to the stereotype models that wear long ball gowns, a crown, and marries a prince so she is destined to live in a castle all of her life? Chloe, the young heroine in today's book, has a totally different take on her rendition of a Princess.
Chloe dreams of becoming a ballerina Princess. She leaps and twirls to practice her artful skills. Sometimes her two dads dance along with her and have fun. Today in her quiet house Chloe decides to create her very own rendition of how she perceives a Princess to be and wants her to be absolutely perfect.
She gives the Princess a round head which homes a very smart brain and colourful hair made out strands of yarn. She gives her eyes and ears to be observant, a mouth to give her a voice to speak kind words and the Princess's crowning glory? Yes.... a crown to sparkle through her shiny tresses. Chloe wants her Princess to stand tall and to be brave and strong, just to name a few. Finally she designs a lovely pink dress to adorn her Princess but she accidentally glues it on lop-sided. Noooooo! Whatever shall she do? Her Princess is no longer perfect! How can Chloe correct this very obvious imperfection? After all her hard work is her Princess flawed and ugly? Poor Chloe feels terrible! Then enters her dads who want to take a peek at her creation. They sense her distress and give her heartfelt support and encouragement.
Chloe learns a wonderful life lesson from her parents. They admire her masterpiece and express that the crooked dress makes the Princess look like she is dancing... a beautiful movement that she probably learned from her BFF Chloe. Chloe soon discovers that imperfections and errors are not bad things, in fact they are the things that make people unique.
Princesses can (and do) look and feel many different ways. Everyone... including Chloe is amazing just by being themselves! This positive message highlights that it's not the outside that counts but what is deep on the inside that matters the most. I love the fact that girls get to be exactly what THEY want to be and certainly with determination and loving support can achieve that goal. Chloe is very fortunate to have such a loving, supportive family around her to boost her self-esteem and reinforce the point that in their eyes she is perfect... she is their Chloe.
The illustrations are colourful and look almost animated. This book is written with heart and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Definitely buy and recommend this book. Really cute.read. Loved the illustrations. This is more of a picturebook. Interesting storyline too.
A little girl does not settle for simply being a princess or a ballerina; nope, she has to be a mashup. Sometimes she dances with her two dads, though it doesn’t say if they are co-regents.
“Inside the head is where our smarts are.” Never heard it put that way, but I like it.
She’s funny and creative—she is a lefty, after all—and I love the way she’s drawn, especially when lying down. The illustrator captures a child’s joyful being in the way she kicks her legs up. It’s all so incredibly cute, even when things don’t work out exactly as she’d hoped.
Ends with a space to draw your own perfect, or not so perfect, princess, along with a Twitter/Instagram hashtag. Reading the author’s bio shows why, but because he’s a therapist who works with kids, it’s okay.
A little girls ponders what a princess really looks like. She comes to the conclusion that princesses are more than just looking pretty: they can be strong, smart, kind, and helpful. They can also look like a ninja, artist or whatever else pleases them. There are no limitations.
This was a cute story with a positive message plus very creative illustrations to match.
I liked the fact that the princess didn't need to be either strong and brave or like pretty dresses and dance. She can like and do both. That's the thing. Little girls don't need to hear that they shouldn't wear pretty dresses or sparkly jewels - they need to hear that they can to anything they set their mind to, regardless of how they look or dress. Just like boys, every child, needs to hear.
Sweet and good book!
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this - this review is entirely my own.
This is a cute book about self-esteem, told from the viewpoint of a little girl who is trying to make the perfect princess.
In this case, princess means someone who is strong.
And she hits all the things that she wants her princess to be, smart, strong, good listener, good communicator.
What I especially like, is that she has two dads, and that isn't a thing that is mentioned other than to show that they exist.
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A cute way to teach about what is important in a person, in general.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
This book is great for establishing the idea that not everyone fits into a certain category and that everyone is different. I like that it also shows how to turn a mistake into something great. The major themes seem to be confidence and acceptance. Many children, not just young girls, can benefit from this story. It is also nice to see a child having two dads so that more children will be able to relate.
I like the concept behind this book- a princess can be different, do different things, etc. So why does she still need a pink ballgown?? If this princess really is strong and is going to travel the world, she needs to wear something a bit more practical. I think if the little girl was dressed in normal clothes and then ended up drawing a picture of a girl who looked just like she did that it would be a stronger message.
Children's books have sure come a long way since I was a child. This story is really cute and I love that Chloe wears glasses and has two dads. While it's really encouraging that Chloe associates each body part that she draws with a quality like being a good listener or being strong, I wish there had been more focus on the actions that make a princess instead of physical qualities.
Written by psychotherapist Mark Loewen and illustrated in fine entertaining style by illustrator Ed Pokoj (sorry there's nothing I saw on his website to illustrate how that last name is pronounced! Oy? Odge? Something else? Is he playing Ed games with us?!), this story tells of Chloe!
Chloe is an enterprising young woman who is having a creative quiet time in her room, inventing the perfect princess - and she's quite inventive in doing so. She works long and hard, adding more paper to the small piece she began with for the head, and drawing a complete princess - and not forgetting to dress her in a fine dress made from colored paper. But is she perfect with a wonky dress? What makes her perfect? Chloe has some good ideas about that, and her two dads are happy to help out at the end.
I thought this book was charming and inventive and perfect for young readers. I commend it. With the Mark Loewen hook, and the Hocus-Pokoj drawing lines, this book won't sink!
Chloe is trying to imagine how a princess looks like. Is she only beautiful and wearing a crown and pretty dresses? Or is she also strong, helping others, kind, smart? With the help of the family she can learn all these things.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this lovely book.
Our heroine decides to create a princess in art form, and tells it encouraging, inspiring things as she does so. But can she be happy with the finished result? And just what kind of princess will she design? This is a very simple moral in picture book form, fitting in with every current self-empowerment trend, telling the young audience that there is no one correct way to look, whether you're a princess or not. Much will be made, too, of the girl living with two fathers. It's a perfectly decent little volume, although needed a smoother approach – the jump to flashback, and the girl's speeches, could have been a little better.
Princesses come in all shapes and sizes, and not all look like what is shown in fairy tales. Loewen’s wonderfully, heartwarming tale of Chloe and her two dads, shows that princesses can be whatever, and look however, they want.
Chloe marches to the beat of her own drummer, and her princess does to. Her princess is very smart, has beautiful multi-colored hair, very observant, strong, kind, and compassionate – just like Chloe. Best of all, her princess is not perfect and she loves to dance – just like Chloe.
Pokoj’s illustrations are fantastic and paint Chloe and her dads’ love perfectly.
Thank you NetGalley and Boutique of Quality Books Publishing for the opportunity to review this amazing book.