It’s a frequent complaint from our customers: ‘I’m bored with buying pink, sparkly princess books, but my child loves them.’ Well, princesses may be a necessary evil in the world of kids’ literature, but this doesn’t mean all of them are pink and sparkly. Here is a collection of our favourite princesses who are a bit more switched on than your average frog kisser.

The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton

Princess Pinecone is sick and tired of being gifted novelty sweaters. She might be small, but deep inside her lurks a fearsome warrior, which is why she asks for a battlehorse for her birthday. She pictures a strong, steadfast steed, but what she gets instead is a small, chubby pony who farts. Princess Pinecone is positive she’s going to get laughed out of the next battle, but things don’t exactly work out as she expects.

If you recognised Kate Beaton’s artwork from her Hark! A Vagrant webcomic, then you won’t be surprised to learn that The Princess and the Pony is a hilarious read that breaks all the rules you thought you knew about princesses (and ponies, for that matter).

Hamster Princess by Ursula Vernon

There are a couple of things you should know about Princess Harriet Hamsterbone –

One: She is a princess (though she doesn’t excel at traditional princess activities like sighing and looking ethereal).

Two: She is a hamster. A beautiful hamster.

Three: She’s been cursed. A rat decreed that she would prick her finger on a hamster wheel at age twelve and fall into a deep sleep.

News like that might depress a lesser hamster princess, but not Harriet. She takes the knowledge of her impending curse to mean that, until her twelfth birthday, she’s invincible. Accompanied by Mumfrey, her trusty riding quail, Harriet sets off on the adventure to end all adventures… but her birthday is lurking just around the corner.

You want an original princess story? Here it is. Brilliantly funny, Hamster Princess is a perfect book for readers aged 7+ who want something pink, sparkly, and furry.

The Princess in Black by Shannon & Dean Hale

Princess Magnolia is no stranger to pretty pink dresses and tea parties with duchesses, but when trouble calls she transforms into her secret identity – the Princess in Black! Monsters of all shapes and sizes are no match for the fearless Princess in Black, even monstrously cute hungry bunny hordes.

Prim and proper meets funny and brave in Shannon and Dean Hale’s The Princess in Black series, which will delight kids aged 7+ setting out on their first chapter book adventures.

The Secret Lives of Princesses by Phillippe Lechermeier

This lavishly illustrated compendium will introduce you to all the princesses you’ve never heard of.

There’s the loquacious Princess Babbling Brooke who chatters on and on until she’s blue in the face, Princess Oblivia who walks around in a constant brain fog and forgets all her appointments, and the chronic bibliophile Princess Paige, who reads everything she can get her hands on. There are also sections on coats of arms, tests to detect true princesses, and how to deal with troublesome fairies.

The Secret Lives of Princesses is a work of art with boundless imagination for princesses of all ages.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

What list of feisty princesses would be complete without Robert Munsch’s classic The Paper Bag Princess? After Princess Elizabeth’s fiancé Prince Ronald is kidnapped by a dragon, she sets out to save him dressed only in a paper bag. Using her smarts, Elizabeth defeats the dragon only to find that Ronald is less than pleased with her choice of attire, and that’s the point at which Elizabeth decides she really doesn’t need a stuffy old prince tying her down.

First published in 1980, The Paper Bag Princess is still beloved by audiences over thirty years later, proving that courage, ingenuity and self-esteem never go out of fashion.

The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp

Princess Sue is many things: she’s feisty, free-spirited and independent. She’s also bored. Really bored. She’s been stuck in a castle for as long as she can remember, and she’s eagerly awaiting the day a prince will come and spring her from her tower. But when she learns that the prince intends to stick her in yet another tower rather than let her join in all the fun princely activities, Sue comes up with a plan of her own. She befriends a ferocious dragon who helps her teach the prince a thing or two about just what princesses are capable of.

This is a hilarious rhyming tale that will have young readers in hysterics. Sarah Ogilvie’s illustrations are a riot of colour and fun, and perfectly complement Princess Sue’s irreverent adventures.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Best friends Sophie and Agatha are as different as night and day: fair and beautiful Sophie assumes she’ll become a princess at the School for Good, whereas scowling, ugly Agatha knows she’s destined for the School of Evil. But somewhere along the line they find their fortunes reversed – Sophie must attend classes on Death Curses, and Agatha is forced to learn Etiquette. And while it’s not the way either of them saw their lives going, they quickly learn that appearances aren’t everything, it’s what’s inside that counts.

This is a darkly humorous book with echoes of Harry Potter that will absolutely enthrall readers ten plus.