"Where are your princess books?"

AAAAHHHHHH! was my initial reaction to this question every time a little girl came up and asked me that. And to be fair, it was also my reaction when any student (usually boys) would ask me about "hero" books (meaning super-hero books). I'm not sure why I had such a knee-jerk reaction to those requests over other requests. The library apparently has a critical shortage of these genre which in turn makes me feel like I'm not on my game in collection development.

Most of the time, these books would all be checked out when they were requested. Younger students just can't quite grasp that you have a limited amount of something and that it isn't available at that particular moment in time. While staring into their big puppy-dog eyes like Little Cindy Lou Who when you tell them that "No, sorry, we don't have anymore Cinderella books right now" you feel like the Grinch that stole their Christmas. To the true princess connoisseur, it is only a "real" princess book if it a Disney creation. I try the "bait and switch" and recommend to them other non-Disney versions of Cinderella. At first, they will fain interest and take the book. I leave them feeling like Supreme Librarian Extraordinaire! However, by the time they get to checking out, they have selected something else and I find the recommended book tucked away in the middle of American history. *SIGH* Repeat the above process with another student who wants a super-hero book and I try to turn them on to a tall tale hero or *gasp* a biography of a real hero.

After thinking about what these students are really asking for is adventure where they can project themselves into the main character. I know, I know...how sexist -- etc. Well, upon further meditation on the matter, the new generation of princesses aren't your momma's princesses. I recently rented the DVD, The Princess and the Frog. The main character was pretty self-sufficient before during and after finding her prince and the prince was not your typical blue blood hero. Marvel super-heroes are full of personal conflicts and identity crisis. We owe a debt of literary gratitude that children are attracted to more complicated characters.
So, the next time I get a request for a "princess book", I'll have to remember that in the immortal words of Prince Naveen, "It is not slime, it is mucus!" It is all a matter of perspective.