The Paper Princess

This book contains beautiful illustrations backed with a creative story of a young talented girl who makes cut out paper objects.

One day she makes a beautiful princess doll, ready except for the fact that she needs hair.

Suddenly, the wind takes the cut out princess away. This is the story of the cut out doll's adventures and her desire to be reunited with the person who made her. While the description sounds trite, the story and illustrations are well worth the time spent reading this charming book.

I very much liked both the story and illustrations. Elisa Kleven is new to me, and I'll be sure to read more of her books.

Recommended. 4 stars

The Paper Princess is a very cute story for children ages 3 - 8. It was written in 1994 and reissued as a deluxe printing in 2026. A little girl makes a princess out of paper, loses it, and it comes back to her after having several adventures. The themes of abiding love is a strong message to children. The illustrations are colorful and each page has many things to look at and talk about. I was particularly impressed with the quality of the glossy paper and binding. Definitely a book to keep and pass on.

This is an inspiring story about a little girl who creates a paper doll that is blown away by the wind and has a number of adventures, before returning to the little girl.  Elisa Kleven's mixed-media illustrations (watercolor, colored pencils, ink, crayon, collage) are wonderfully colorful and detailed.  This story was originally published in 1994, and my review copy is the beautiful deluxe gift edition being published in June 2026, featuring gold foil stamping and an embossed image of the originally-blank side of the paper princess.  In a 2015 interview, Kleven discussed the origins of the book, and how it helped her make sense of the early losses of her mother and brother.  Recommended - I look forward to giving this book to my show more great-granddaughter. show less

Exuberant, cheering art, not 'girly' but just delightful... full of detail that a young reader could spend a long time looking at.  Two boys even play key roles in this adventure of a paper doll.  Now I want to make a paper doll, and color a meadow on the back of her, and make for her a sweater and a banjo and a bed....

A paper-doll princess designed by a little girl blows away in the wind before the doll is completed. Her far-flung adventures are illustrated with mixed-media collage. "Youngsters will no doubt be inspired to fire up their crayons, markers and paints after this outing."

46 months - A very creative story, we very much enjoyed it.

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