My Papa is a Princess is a slightly preaching book. After all, the cover is after all pink, with a stereotypical looking top-half of a male in a crown. At other times it is more straight forward and less in your face. They never say inside the book that Papa is a princess, but it is obvious due to the cover/title. But they mention when he is a hairdresser, firefighter, race car driver, etc. The book mostly is a dad having father and daughter time with his girl. She narrators all the things her father is (in context to their play). But in the end, no matter what he does, he is always her Papa.
This book hints at the fact that the father might be a single parent, as mom is never mentioned. However, it could also be just this is “Papa and daughter” time and mom is letting them bond. The fact the girl sees her father as a race car driver when they are on the floor playing cars. When dad fixes her hair, he is the hairdresser. These fun imitative thoughts of the girl are the best part of the book. The pretending shows creativity on Doug Cenko’s part.
As I always say, every book has an audience, I am not this books audience. However, I would highly recommend this for dads and daughters. It is due in September of this year, therefore, not in time for this year’s Father’s Day, but would be good for next year. It also could be a fun holiday gift or a birthday gift for dad.