Great idea for a book and really well executed. A thoroughly good read. Highly recommended. .

My daughter and I read this book together. She was able to read parts of it which is new for us because she is learning how to read this year. She liked the story and so did I. Would recommend.

I love fairytales and am always on the look-out for retellings, splintered fairy tales or fairy tales where gender roles or stereotypes are challenged or subverted. In this story, a princess decides to take her destiny into her own hands – she may have long, blonde hair, just like the stereotype, but she is not going to wait for a prince to save her. In fact, she is going to use all the resources she has – books and people! – to solve the problem of her isolation.

Just look at the fact that she’s holding a hammer on the cover – Lila is a determined princess who isn’t afraid to muck in alongside her team to achieve her goal.

I liked the messages in this book that we cannot exist in isolation and that problems can be solved as long as we put our heads together, consult some books and try, try, try again.

What I liked: Princess who takes control of her own destiny – no sitting around waiting for a prince, education being seen as the way to solve problems and books as repositories of knowledge, Lila studying engineering and architecture, using them to achieve her aim. I liked her perseverance when things went wrong.

Even better if: It is fine as it is but I had questions – why can’t she leave the Castle grounds? Why are there no other children around? What happens next? (I couldn’t see Lila being satisfied with just a tower anymore!)

How you could use it in your classroom: Could discuss stereotypes of princesses and towers – perhaps compare to Rapunzel. Could also look at image of princesses – do they all have blue eyes and long, blonde hair? Why? Could write predictions or sequels – what will happen next?

Princess Lila is a princess who had everything in order to be happy, and yet she wasn't. She lived in an enormous castle, had all of the material things a princess could hope for and servants to take care of her every need. But she wasn't allowed outside of the walls of her castle and she had no friends. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be so happy in that situation either.

So begins the story of Princess Lila in the new book by Anne Paradis (CrackBoom! Books, May 2017). She tries a variety of ways to get past her parent's rule about not leaving the castle grounds and still seeing the world outside the walls, until she decides to build a tower with the help of one of her tutors. The tutor is thrilled as it will involve architecture, geometry and mathematics.

While still staying a princess, Lila designs the tower and becomes project manager overseeing its construction. Her dream of seeing into the distance finally comes into fruition and she even manages, somehow, to see to another distant castle where a young boy has a similar tower to do the same goal.

There was something wonderful about this story, although I will admit to not understanding how a nameless boy off in the distance could be considered her new friend. What I did find engaging, however, was that a) the princess needed more than just being coddled, she wanted to see the world around her, and b) she followed her dream, devised a plan, and brought that dream to life.

In a world of helicopter parents, it was good to see that Lila refused to be held back. Lila also highlights the fact that living in isolation is no way to live, even if you have all of the basic comforts of life, a life without love and friendship is a life half lived.

Princess Lila is a great twist on the common princess story. She is a modern day princess who is intelligent and knows that if she wants something done, she has to be a part of the process. A great book to encourage young girls to do more than just look pretty.

Princess Lila Builds a Tower is a picture book by Anne Paradis that is currently scheduled for release on May 16 2017. Princess Lila lives in a beautiful castle and has everything she could ever desire—well, almost. She yearns to venture beyond the forest, explore her country and meet people her own age. But the forest is off limits. Resourceful and ingenious, Princess Lila sets to work building a tower to catch a glimpse of the forbidden land. Thus begins a thrilling adventure: she becomes the manager of a vast construction project involving an impressive number of materials, obstacles and solutions. At last, with the help of the castle’s staff, she constructs a tower that extends above the trees. After the plucky princess takes matter into her own hands, will she find what she was looking for?

Princess Lila Builds a Tower is a great story for any child that is tired of the limits imposed on them. Lila is a princess that is bored and lonely, and tired of being stuck on the castle grounds all the time. When she has the idea of a tower, so see can see beyond the walls, she does not just order it done. She takes part in the engineering, the ideas, and the hard labor of making it happen. I really like that she was so fully involved, and that readers got to see just how involved the building process can be. When she, and her crew, finish building she gets her chance to see far in the distance, and finds a young boy on a matching tower looking back at her. I think this was a nice touch, showing that anyone can work hard to achieve their goals.

My precocious five year old niece and I read this together and even she noticed, "She didn't go into the forest. She was a good listener." Kids need literarary examples of obedient characters in this day of "do what you want"! We both loved that.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a little girl who finds a way to solve the problem of isolation that her overprotective parents have placed her in. She designs and builds a tower that lets her see the world from a safe distance. There's a lot of positivity in the message of this book, not least of which is a princess who's a burgeoning architect and engineer.

I initially thought I was not going to find a positive message for girls because the little girl's life was so sheltered by her parents. In the end, she finds that on the other side of the scary forest a little boy Prince has built his own tower to see the world. So the message here definitely isn't sexist. It's about children finding ways to expand their world.

Princess Lila's parents allow her the freedom of doing or having anything that she wants-- and she has everything a little girl could possibly want, let alone a princess. But she has grown bored. The only thing her parents will not allow is for our little princess to travel beyond the walls of the castle. They do not want her going into the forest because of how dangerous it is.

Within the walls she is left to her own devices which can be fun but she wants a friend. One day, with the help of her ingenuity and tutor, Lila puts together the plans to build a tower high above the walls of the castle, so that she can see beyond the forest and into the lives of others--she wants to know more.

The plans, being put into place, are followed and several weeks later a party is held in the honor of the completion of her tower. In her excitement she runs to the top of the tower and sees everything she was hoping. She finds a new friend.

The pictures are fun and colorful and princess Lila is full of ingenuity--she makes something wonderful out of her resources and does not wallow in the things that she is lacking in.

Princess Lila Builds a Tower offers girl power, goal setting, courage, and perseverance themes. Lila wants to go beyond the walls of the castle, but is not allowed. She decides to build a tower to see beyond the castle. The tower allows her to see a prince in a tower far across the land and make a "friend". The story could do more to really explore the themes throughout. The story was pretty basic and would be of more interest for the younger reader (4-6 years old).

A young version of Rapunzel—shorter blonde hair, of course—is sad; much like Buddha, she has everything she wants but is not allowed to go outside. So she gets the great idea to build an observation tower, seemingly modeled after the one in Copenhagen, so she can see past the dangerous forest she’s forbidden from entering.
Personality trait that will tell you all you need to know about her: “Princess Lila blushed with happiness.” Though she doesn’t even take the crown off to sleep. And in the end she finds a friend with a much bigger crown than hers.
The print is a bit small, despite having plenty of room in the beautiful page-size drawings.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

A really good and interesting book that is really engaging for young readers. I would recommend it to every young reader. This book hac very beautiful and engaging illustrations. I loved it

This book was wonderful!! The illustrations were on point and the story was inspiring and fun! I hope there will be more with Lila! 😊

A fun story for children. I would recommend this book.

There were a few things that I really liked about this book. I enjoyed the story and the focus on girls as engineers, planning things out and solving their own problems. I also loved the illustrations. I thought that they were beautiful and very fun. What didn't feel right to me was the text. I can't quite put my finger on the problem, but it felt really flat to me. I thought that at times it was unnecessarily wordy. It just didn't seem to match the exuberant feel of the illustrations for me. Overall though, I can see kids enjoying this book.

An absolutely wonderful Children's book. It is full of excellent illustrations the children will love.

Princess Lila has everything she wants, except permission to leave the castle grounds. She is determined to see the forest and all the things outside the castle grounds.

She enlists the help of the castle staff and Lila accomplishes her dream. To her delight, she is able to see beyond the castle walls.

Very charming children’s book. Excitement, suspense, goal oriented, with a positive outlook – all wrapped up in a fairy tale story. Excellent for preschool age, early readers and Elementary school age children.


I gave it 5 stars because it is delightful, energetic, and optimistic.

I review children's books for two reasons. First, I strongly believe that developing a love for reading and an appreciation for knowledge is pivotal for young minds. Secondly, I have two complete sets of nieces and nephews, and reviewing new children's books means I can purchase great gifts.

Given all this. I would not purchase this for the young readers in my life. The artwork was very well done, and I appreciate the illusions to female engineers/architects; however, I think there was more to be developed and explored here. A traditional princess who builds a tower is a great opportunity to touch on gender roles and stereotypes, but was largely untouched here. The same could be said for the often used plot point of what it means to grow up and question your parents rules and the status quo of your life.

This was a cute read, but there are so many cute children's books. I personally prefer one with more depth.

Princess Lila Builds a Tower
BY Anne Paradis
Rating 4 Stars

This is a nicely told story about a princess, yes, another princess story but it is more that. It also portrays a life lesson about cooperation and working together, planning and determination in a way that even a young child would be able to understand and grasp. The story is short which enables the child to stay focused. The illustrations are the icing on the cake and will definitely hold a child’s attention for more than a few seconds. The ending has a nice surprise, too, that will be sure to please every child!

Parental Note: This story opens the door for discussion about working together for a common goal and seeing something through to the end. I would recommend this story for children ages 3 to 7.

I enjoyed this book. I wish that the princess had actually gotten out into the world, although the ending made it seem like she might after the book is over. I'm just not very fond of books that don't have definitive endings. Otherwise, the book is good.

Princess Lila is an excited and energetic princess who dreams big. She has everything needs but Lila is still not happy. She is forbidden to enter the forest and so she decides to build a tower that is taller than not only the castle but also the forest.

I read this story to my 5 year old daughter who was interested in the story right away because of the wonderful drawings and the hopes of discovering a new princess that she has not heard of before. My daughter loved the story but did begin to be distracted and uninterested about half way through the book. The lull in the middle part of the book however did not distract her completely and by the end of the story she was still waiting for more pages!

Any children's book which can entertain my 5 year old from start to finish deserves at least a 4 star in my opinion. If I have any advice to the publisher/author it would be to somehow put some sort of conflict in the middle of the story to keep the attention of young kids but otherwise it was a good read!

Also, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Chouette Publishing-CrackBoom for a free Kindle edition of the book to review.