Picture Book Recommendations

[Tracey]

I'm going to cross-post this in "around the house", but I was wondering if I could get some suggestions. Factual books (where applicable) or stories would be great. I am looking for some picture books with the following themes:

*outer space or astronauts
*dinosaurs
*reverse Cinderella (girl saves prince or male character)
*strong female protagonist
*Thomas book (no name-calling)

DD will be three in April and can handle books up to 25 pages. Thanks for any ideas!

[ellies mom]

One of our favorite stories is "The Princess Knight" by Corniella Funke. My DD asks for this book every night (and Oliva). Basically it is about a princess who is taught all the "knight" things just like her older brothers. Then her father gets the bright idea to marry her off to the winner of the tournement celebrating her 16th birthday. She dresses up as a guy and wins the tournement herself. The pictures are great. They are laid out tapistry like to tell the story.

I recommend this book to everyone, it is just such good book, with a vrey good message.

[kedss]

There is a fun 'Alice in Wonderland' pop up book, along with some other books:
http://robertsabuda.com/biblio.asp

HTH :)

[schums]

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. It's a great story about Princess Elizabeth who is about to marry Prince Ronald when her castle gets destroyed by a dragon, who take Ronald back to his cave. Elizabeth then decides to rescue Ronald but she has no clothes -- only a paper bag to wear, hence the name of the book. She succeeds by outwitting the dragon. Ronald then says "You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess." Elizabeth decides not to marry him. Very upbeat and funny, with both a reverse Cinderella and a strong female character. One of my and DS's favorite books!

Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0920236162/104-1435070-2926347?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

HTH,
Sarah
Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

[Tracey]

Thanks for the recommendations so far! I've added them to my wish list. The Paper Bag Princess was one I had seen before, but couldn't remember. Keep the suggestions coming!

[AngelaS]

The Paper Bag Princess and the Princess Knight were the two I was going to recommend as well! We love lots of Robert Munsch's books---Murmel, Murmel, Murmel is good too.