Pragmatic Princess: 26 Superb Stories of Self-Sufficiency is an A-Z compilation of short stories about self-reliance designed for children aged 3-12+.

Within each story in Pragmatic Princess, the main character in is confronted with a typical childhood challenge (e.g., a fear of trying something new or schoolyard bullying) and models a wide range of skills and ideas to navigate these challenges, such as problem solving, flexible thinking, and resourcefulness. The use of real-world situations and a diverse cast helps foster observational learning and the successful acquisition of the skills modeled in each of the stories which span intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development.

Pragmatic Princess was developed to grow with the reader. The length of the story is short enough to keep the younger readers engaged, whilst the content becomes more relevant to the older children. Also, the use of a rhyming scheme helps support pre-reading literacy skills.

The characters of Pragmatic Princess were developed to represent a range of shapes, sizes, abilities and disabilities, and traditional and non-traditional families. It was important to incorporate diverse backgrounds into the characters’ lives for them to reflect the diverse world we live in. It was equally important that these details were not the central theme of the stories themselves as our shape, level of ability, and what our family unit looks like are just some of the many parts of who we are and not necessarily the defining feature of our stories.

For more on the science behind the development of these stories, see buildyourowncastle.com