The Princess Away Beyond the Mountains - Valeria Angela Pisi - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Valeria Angela Pisi

ILLUSTRATOR: Francesc Rovira

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: May 12, 2026

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A picture book about a princess who doesn’t want to be rescued. Great concept, good execution, cute illustrations. A decent story that upturns gender stereotypes but has some problematic elements as well. Recommended to be read with discussion.

Plot Preview:

When the princess is in the dragon’s lair, the king calls all the knights in the land and makes a grand declaration: anyone who saves the princess will be rewarded with all the treasures of the kingdom. Several knights try their luck. But when they reach the dragon’s castle, the princess makes it clear that she doesn’t want to be rescued. Now what?

The cover first caught my attention, and the blurb ensured that I would definitely read this book. It’s always nice to see stories where princesses don’t want to be or need to be rescued. Plus, this book is the winner of the ninth edition of the International Children’s Literature Award Narrating Equality which recognises stories that counter gender stereotypes. Quite enticing as a package! The result though was slightly mixed.

This book smashes gender-related clichés on multiple levels. Not only is the princess unlike most princesses we see in fairytales, but the identity of the knights in the story also contains a surprise element.

The princess’s frustration with palace life comes out quite strongly, as does her fondness for karate kicks. While the kicks are funny to see, they left me with confused feelings. I don’t think the unwarranted physical violence is justifiable simply because it is written comically.

The dragon on the cover barely has any role to play in the story. On most pages, all it is doing is sitting by the princess while she works on her pet project. As someone who loves dragon stories, I found this a teeny bit disappointing.

I wish the story clarified how the princess ended up with the dragon. The proclamation made by the king at the start doesn’t shed light on this. Did she go of her own volition? Or did she become friends with the dragon after it snatched her from the palace? And if it did indeed kidnap her, did it do so on her instruction? I had a few other queries as well, but this was the most confusing one.

The ending is somewhat self-contradictory. The princess goes off on her long-awaited adventure, and on the way, comes across some more princesses who didn’t want saving and takes them along with her. So technically, she did save them from the situation they were caught in, right? 🤔

There are 4-6 lines of text on each page. The writing is full of actions and emotions, making this an excellent option for read-alouds. A certain comical situation is also repeated multiple times, which can create great anticipatory value while reading together with kids.

The illustrations are quite cute. The colour palette is muted yet vivid. I loved the dragon with its dozy eyes and the princess with her shaggy hair and comfy pants.

Overall, while I love the idea behind the book, the execution could have gone better for me. It handles the shattering of sexist stereotypes well, but in the process, it includes some questionable behaviour and contradictory situations. Still, nothing in the book is so problematic that it can't be sorted out with a genuine open conversation.

Recommended to parents looking for more gender-respectful picture books. Better if this book is read together with plenty of mutual discussion.

My thanks to Publisher Spotlight and NubeOcho for providing the DRC of “The Princess Away Beyond the Mountains” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

If you would like to try another picture book having a similar theme but slightly better executed, check out this indie option: Once Upon and Ever After - Caroline L. Thornton. This is available on KU.