the secret lives of Princesses, written by Philippe Lechermeire and illustrated by Rebecca Dautremer was originally published in french as Princesses oubliees ou inconnues in 2004. It is a fantasy picture book /guidebook on princesses you've probably never heard of, their connections to the ones you have heard of, and how to be a princess yourself.
the secret lives of Princesses contains examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Princess Hot-Head is only afraid of mini tree mice, which are even cuter than regular mice.
- Alternate Universe: Princess Ices produces a mirror that you can step through to travel to another world.
- Attention Whore: Princess Meetu's only fear is to be ignored. She's famous for engaging in numerous scandals.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Princess Fa-Sol-La spends her life at operas and concerts, and sings for private guests when those are closed. She sings instead of speaking.
- The Bet: Prince S and his sister traded places over this. The first one to give up would lose. Neither have stopped.
- Bizarre Instrument: The Cuckoo Horn. Has around a dozen switches, a cuckoo coming out the opening, a bandaid, and at least five holes. No practice necessary.
- Bookworm: Princess Paige is in her library whenever possible. She reads everything she can find.
- Born from Plants: The only way to grow a princess is to plant one in the palace garden.
- Conjoined Twins: Princess Flip and Flop. They are inseparable. Literally.
- The Exile: Princess Miss Hap was exiled for breaking everything she touches. She's devising plans for escape.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Princess Hot-Head, face of an angel. Behaves like the devil. Totally terrifying.
- Friend to All Living Things: The Eco Princess. Her court is made up of snakes, zebras, tigers, cheetahs and pathers. Birds nest in her hair, and tell her stories from long ago. Spends her evenings chatting with her closest confidants and animal protecters.
- Forgetful Jones: Princess Oblivia forgets everything. Has no memory, only a black hole where it should be.
- Fortune Teller: Princess Claire Voyant can see into tomorrow. But she is usually wrong.
- Garden of Evil: The Night Princess has a greenhouse of carnivorous plants.
- Hedge Maze: It is rumored that some have gone into Princess Molly Coddle's garden maze and never come out.
- The Klutz: Princess Miss Hap. Exiled to an island for breaking all she touches and some princes.
- Lilliputians: Princess Thimbelina, the size of a thumb, and her younger brother, Little Prince.
- Magic Mirror: Manufactured by the great-grandaughter of The Snow Queen, Princess Ices, along with other non-magical mirror, such as:
- A mirror that allows you to watch TV and brush your hair at the same time.
- A vanity mirror, like the one used by Snow White's stepmother. Comes with voice recognition and an access code.
- A vice versa mirror, which allows you to travel to another world, like the one in Alice's looking glass.
- Master of Disguise: The Faceless Princess is unrecognizable. No one knows what she looks likes or where she is.
- Omniglot: Princess Barbara of Babel speaks a multitude of languages. Conversant in French, English, Farsi and Chinese. Writes in Mongolian.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Princess Eelizabeth is half eel.
- Phantom Thief: Princess Sticky-Fingers. Nothing can stop her. She steals other princesses jewelry simply by walking near them.
- Politically-Active Princess: Princess Barbara of Babel is practiced in high diplomatic functions, and is the royal ambassador for all the courts' princesses.
- Portent of Doom: Black Butterfly forcasts doom. Once your see it, there is little hope. Princess Primandproper raises them.
- Raised by Wolves: A wandering princess was said to be raised by wolves in Siberia.
- Reading Tea Leaves: Princess Claire Voyant reads tea leaves, among other things. Usually incorrectly.
- RevengeSVP:
- Sleeping Beauty was cursed because her parents forgot to invite a distant cousin who worked as a fairy.
- Miss Hap's clumsiness was a curse brought on by her parents' limiting the catering costs by limiting the number of party guests.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Princess Paige is an expert in rhyme, and speaks only in verse.
- Super-Speed: Princess Zig-Zag is faster than the speed of light.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Palace quarrels are sometimes settled with poison. That is why princesses have tasters.
- Tightrope Walker: Princess Picaresque is a circus artist. Her favorite trick is to walk a tightrope so high it cuts into the clouds.
- Warrior Prince:
- Princess Hot-Head was wounded in the battle of Atlanta, and is friends with Amazons.
- Princess Babbling Brooke uses her terrible chattering as a weapon of war.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Prince S switched places with his lookalike sister as a bet. Even as he got older, and his beard grew and he grew out of dresses, he braided his beard and had his dresses custom made.
- World of Chaos : The Princess of the Disorent's kingdom. Everything is haywire, mixed up and backwards. Parents do homework and children watch television late into the night. Dogs walk their masters on leashed.
