Former animator Jason Porath has a new book on princesses that is anything but frilly called Rejected Princesses.
The book adapts fairy tales based on on real women that made history. There are 101 women in told which range from warrior queens, soldiers, and villains to spies and revolutionaries. In a recent Reddit AMA, Porath talked about how he chose his subjects from history. Here is an excerpt:
I look for women with agency, personality, and conflict. Lack agency, and it’s a tragedy. Lack personality, and it’s boring. Lack conflict, and it’s a resume. Additionally, I try for people who are lesser-known, or about whom I can emphasize something relatively unknown. And finally, I tend to avoid modern figures — if there has not been time for the dust to settle on their story, then there’s any number of problems that could arise.