The Secret Lives of Princesses: Review and Giveaway

If your daughter loves princesses but you're sick of reading princess stories, here's a great book for you. I was given a review copy of The Secret Lives of Princesses (available now, June 2010!) and I loved it so much I asked them if we could run a giveaway for a copy of the book! We love this book and I know you will too. Keep reading to find out how to enter....

The Basics
The Secret Lives of Princesses (written by Philippe Lechermeier, illustrated by Rebecca Dautremer) is an encyclopedia-style storybook with information about some little-known princesses who are just as royal and magical as your classic fairytale princesses -- but a bit more, ah, shall we say, interesting. It also contains some fascinating details of princesses' lives, from how they travel to what kinds of pets they own, as well as tips and tricks for how to wake a sleeping princess, how to appease unhappy fairies ready to hand down curses and more.


Here's a brief description of the book:
Everyone knows about Cinderella, Snow White, and other princess favorites -- but others, equally magical (and sometimes, a lot funnier) have remained anonymous, enigmatic, and far from the fairy tale crowd. Now these captivating ladies are finally stepping out of the shadows where they've remained hidden for far too long. WIth imagination, sublime humour and beautiful art, The Secret Lives of Princesses introduces a bevy of new royal daughters to the court of young readers.

The Bongga
We are loving this book! It has kept all 3 kids amused and entertained for our bedtime story for several days now. Since the book is written encyclopedia style, it's easy to read a few pages, then stop and pick up the next day. Actually it's not that easy to stop because these princesses are so interesting, we always want to see what other kinds of princesses there are. Here are 3 of my favorites:

Princess Somnia, cousin to The Sleeping Beauty, who loves to laze around and sleep (my kind of princess)

Princess Anne Phibian, who kisses every frog she sees.


Princess Hot-Head, who would rather brandish a sword than an embroidery needle.

Each illustration in the book is so whimsical and delicate and beautiful, it's tempting to tear the pages out and frame them up on The Pea's bedroom wall. But I won't because it's such a humorous book; even grownups will appreciate the tongue-in-cheek wit. I love that the princesses in this book break the stereotype of the helpless, victimized princess who needs a prince to rescue her and bring about a happy ending. Yes, these princesses are kooky, but they're ultra-cool, and best of all they are confident in who they are and not afraid to revel in it. What a great girl-power message to pass on to the little princesses in our own lives!


The Blah
This book almost seems to be geared more towards adults than kids. It uses a lot of big words, idiomatic expressions and cultural references, so I found myself having to take more time than usual to explain to my kids what the book is saying. Not that that's a bad thing, but when you're reading this to younger children you may find yourself picking and choosing the passages you read out loud just because the rest are too complicated to bother explaining. Again, I guess it's not really a bad thing -- they can read it themselves when they're older and rediscover the book!


The Bottom Line
The Secret Lives of Princesses is a witty, beautifully illustrated collection It's the perfect book for any princess lover.... or princess hater!

Win a copy of this book
One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a copy of The Secret Lives of Princesses.

Required Entry
Go to The Secret Lives of Princesses portrait gallery, then leave a comment on this post and tell me which princess in the gallery you would most like to be. This entry must be completed before extra entries qualify.


Extra Entries
For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry with a way to verify the entry (i.e. tweet link, blog post link, Facebook id, Twitter id, etc.).

1) Grab my blog button and post it up on your blog (1 entry).

2) Subscribe to Bonggamom Finds updates (1 entry).

3) Become a fan of Bonggamom Finds on Facebook (1 entry).

4) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Networked Blogs (1 entry).

5) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Blogger(1 entry).

6) Write this on the Being a Princess Facebook Fan Page (1 entry):

I entered to win a copy of this wonderful book over on Bonggamom Finds! You can enter too at http://ow.ly/1T8Ys

7) Go to The Secret Lives of Princesses portrait gallery, then go to the Being a Princess Facebook Fan Page and write on their wall telling them which princess you would most like to be (1 entry).


8) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Twitter and tweet this daily (1 entry per day, leave a comment with the tweet link for each tweet):

Tired of pretty-in-pink princesses? Read "The Secret Lives of Princesses"! Win a copy at @bonggafinds http://ow.ly/1T8Ys #giveaway


The Rules
This giveaway ends at midnight PST on June 20, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on June 21 and post the winner's name after the winner confirms acceptance. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book, and a second copy will be provided to the giveaway winner courtesy of the publisher. I was not paid to review the product or give my opinions. Unless clearly stated, the views and opinions expressed here are my own.