Book Recs Based On Your Favorite Disney Princesses
Disney, in conjunction with Pixar, has given us lots of great new princesses to add to its collection, most recently Rapunzel of Tangled, Merida of Brave, and Anna and Elsa of Frozen. Here are our best guesses as to what these lovely ladies are reading while they’re waiting for their princes to come—or, more likely, in between practicing archery, horseback riding, and rescuing their sisters from self-imposed exile.
ARIEL
Our little mermaid is adventurous and imaginative. If she’s your favorite, try Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic rousing tale of seafaring, treasure-hunting, and mutiny. Plus: pirates! On a meta level, you might also be fascinated by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tales.
BELLE
Underneath that dreamy, romantic exterior, Belle is a fighter. Her rebel spirit makes it easy to imagine her waving the flag with the student warriors on the barricades of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and anyone who cannot get enough Belle will be thrilled by Cosette’s steadfast devotion to both her father and her beau.
CINDERELLA
Sweet, mistreated Cinderella can only dream of having good friends in lieu of wicked stepsisters. It stands to reason she would gobble down women’s fiction in search of the kind of camaraderie her life always lacked, and if she’s your favorite, seek solace along with her in a modern dysfunctional family story with a happy ending, like Jennifer Weiner’s Then Came You.
JASMINE
Fierce Jasmine is less sentimental than Belle. She wasn’t pining for her Prince Ali before they locked eyes across a crowded bazaar, and she didn’t fall for him until he took her out. And by “out,” of course, we don’t mean to TGIFriday’s. He showed her the world. If she’s your favorite, you might enjoy a great adventure memoir like Michael Crichton’s Travels or a hilarious cautionary tale collection like The Unsavvy Traveler: Women’s Comic Tales of Catastrophe.
POCAHONTAS
Environmentalist? Activist? Pure of heart? Try Rachel Carson’s landmark Silent Spring, the rare book that, like Pocahontas herself, manages to change the course of history.
TIANA
Tiana is ambitious and career-oriented as few Disney ladies are, though to be fair, they are pretty busy princessing, whereas Tiana has to use her brains to make her own way in the world. If she’s your favorite, try one of Walter Mosley’s fabulous L.A. noirs, like Devil in a Blue Dress, which combines Tiana’s desire for escape with some of the complexities of urban life that she would find familiar.
What book would you recommend to a Disney princess?