Classroom Connections: The Princess Swap series by Kim Bussing

Please tell us about your books.

The Princess Swap is a series that’s essentially The Brothers Grimm meets Freaky Friday. In each book, fairy tale princesses have their lives swapped and they have to find their way back to their own stories. But these aren’t your typical princesses waiting to be rescued. They’re bold, brave, and struggling with the same things many of us are, like friendships, family, identity, and learning how to make the right decisions. 

Three of the books are currently out, with two more planned in the series! 

• In the first, Cinderella and the Beast (or Beauty and the Glass Slipper), Cinderella finds herself in the castle of an evil beast, while Belle is trapped in a wicked stepmother’s cellar. 
• In the second, Snow White and the Dragon (or Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs), Snow White ends up on the run for a crime she didn’t commit while Rose (or Sleeping Beauty) has to create a poisoned apple for an evil queen. 
• In the third, Rapunzel and the Sea Witch (or The Little Mermaid and the Tower), which just came out, Rapunzel makes a deal with a sea witch to end a curse while the Little Mermaid (Hana) has to escape from a tower in order to save her kingdom from a mysterious storm.

What inspired you to write this story?

During my MFA program, I had the privilege of TA’ing a course on fairy tales, where I fell in love with these stories all over again. I had always adored fairy tales, myth, and fantasy, but wasn’t sure how to start writing my own versions.  

Fairy tales have such incredibly rich histories and have so much to teach us about culture, society, and values over time. They are very much conversations, told and retold constantly as people add their own interpretations, and they were conversations I wanted to join. That class gave me the confidence (and depth of fairy tale knowledge) to try my own hand at them. 

I’ve always been drawn to mash-ups — I wrote a lot of Totally Spies meets Neopets meets Legend of Zelda fanfiction as a kid —and loved the idea of characters navigating challenges far from the ones we expect for them. 

Through my books, I hope readers feel inspired to create their own versions of the characters and stories.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research to write these books?

To write the books, I read and watch a lot of different versions of the fairy tales (including the Disney movies). There is no “original” version of each story. While we often think about a lot of these tales coming from the Grimm brothers, their role was collecting, editing, and compiling folk tales from people in what is now Germany. And these stories show up across different cultures and centuries. There are differences, but there are often core similarities; you can find versions of Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood throughout the world. 

When I’m drafting, I work to identify the core themes: for example, when working on the first book, I asked, what appears in almost every Cinderella story? What doesn’t? Cinderella is often shown as a meek, kind girl who is flawlessly (and unrealistically) “good” despite going through intense hardship. That’s not a relatable character! But in some versions, there are sparks of defiance. I pulled on those to imagine a character who is fundamentally kind and loving, but who has lost a parent, feels trapped, and has grown a bit prickly to protect her heart. 

What are some special challenges associated with rewriting fairy tales? 

Fairy tales are so beloved, and I want to make sure that I strike the right balance of paying tribute to what people connect with in these stories while taking my own spin.

For example, I try to include the details people love and are excited to see. At the same time, I don’t want to fall into the trap of writing the princesses the way others often write them. I want to be surprised by the characters, their decisions, and where they end up.

This isn’t necessarily a challenge, but something really fun has been sneaking in references to older fairy tales and having readers let me know when they’ve found them!   

What topics do your books touch upon that would make them  a perfect fit for the classroom?

Wrapped within adventure and battles between good and evil, the books touch on themes of friendship, agency, identity, and courage. They are good starting points for imagining how we can overcome our own difficulties by tapping into our own internal magic — that kindness, intelligence, curiosity, and hope within us. 

Since the books feature familiar characters, they can also guide discussions about how we can reimagine stories, write fractured fairy tales, and the explore the power of our own creativity and imagination. 

You can find out more about Kim Bussing and her books at Kim-bussing.com.