Medieval knights, princesses, dragons and castles can be a fun theme to explore with you child or class. There are great fictional stories that will lead to facts about this era. We have created a list that includes fictional books for each topic and a non-fiction book that you can use to dig deeper. Whether you have a little or big reader, boy, girl or both this book list about knights, princesses, dragons and castles has something for everyone.
Books About Knights, Princesses and Dragons, Oh My!
GET A FULL WEEK OF FAIRY TALE THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL LESSON PLANS.
More Resources for Little Book Lovers
The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.
Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.
Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.
Knights
The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie dePaola – The Knight and the Dragon is a wonderful story that teaches readers that fighting does not solve anything and that you should follow your heart. The Knight and Dragon do not know how to fight each other and quickly learn that there are more important things in life. This is a sweet story that little readers will enjoy.
The Bravest Knight by Mercer Mayer – The Bravest Knight is a tale of a little boy that imagines that he is the squire for a knight. The book ends with the little boy deciding he doesn’t want to be a knight as it is a dangerous job. The knight dies at the end, it is not shown but implied. The illustrations are silly and readers will enjoy the fun and imaginative story.
The Making of a Knight by Patrick O’Brien – The Making of a Knight is a story of Sir James as he began his training at the age of 7 to one day become a knight. The book includes details about weapons and other items used by knights. The illustrations and text will help readers understand what it takes to become a knight.
The Dragon & the Knight: A Pop-up Misadventure by Robert Sabuda –The Dragon & the Knight is a fun pop-up book that follows a dragon being chased by a knight. The two take a journey through the pages of fairy tales we all know and throughout the book we see Cinderella, Aladdin, The Three Little Pigs and more. This is a visual book with only small speech bubbles for you to read.
Days of the Knights: A Tale of Castles and Battles by Christopher Maynard – Days of the Knights is a non-fiction book full of facts and information about the lives knights. The book includes a glossary, illustrations and sidebars that give additional information.
Princesses
The Princess and the Three Knights by Karen Kingsbury – The Princess and the Three Knights is a tale of a princess that is looking for her prince. The King wants a man that will love his daughter and loves God. The knights show their strength and talents but only one will win the hand of the princess. This is a faith based book that carries a wonderful message for readers.
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch – The Paper Bag Princess tells the story of Princess Elizabeth whose prince has been taken by the dragon. She must now outsmart the dragon to get her prince back. This is a fun twist on the traditional tale of a prince saving a princess.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer – The Twelve Dancing Princesses is a classic tale of twelve princesses that do not know why their shoes are ruined each morning. A young boy sets out solve the mystery and discovers a secret spell. The illustrations are classical, whimsical and match the story beautifully.
Princess Tales: Once Upon a Time in Rhyme with Seek-and-Find Pictures by Grace Maccarone – Princess Tales is a collection of the most famous princess stories, Cinderella, Princess and the Pea, the Prince and the Frog and many more. Each story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations that include hidden pictures. This is a wonderful book for princess lovers of all ages.
The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett – The Princess and the Pig is a story of Priscilla the princess and Pigmella the farmer’s pig. The two are switched in the nursery and then lead very unusual lives. The king and queen believe an evil witch is to blame and the farmer and his wife believe the good witch has blessed them. This is a silly story that shows that being a princess is not all you might expect.
Dragons
There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight by Penny Parker Klostermann and Ben Mantle – There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight is a fun and silly twist on There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed…. Readers will enjoy the rhyme and laugh out loud story as the dragon slowly swallows the whole kingdom.
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin – Dragons Love Tacos is a book all about dragons that LOVE tacos. Any size or style dragons will eat them. Just be warned that if you have hot sauce with your tacos you are in for a real surprise. Readers will love this silly story and illustrations.
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett – My Father’s Dragon is the first in a series of books that tell an imaginative tale of the island where dragons live. This is a simple chapter book that young readers will enjoy as a first chapter book.
Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow – Puff, the Magic Dragon is the classic song by Peter Yarrow told through beautiful and whimsical illustrations. The book also comes with a CD so that readers can listen to the song and read along or look simply look at the pictures. Readers of all ages will enjoy this book.
Not Your Typical Dragon by Dan Bar-el – Crispin Blaze is Not Your Typical Dragon, on his seventh birthday he does not breath fire but whipped cream. The more he tries the more odd items he breathes. In the end readers and Crispin leaner that you should not judge people and that we each can help people in our own special way. This is a silly book that young readers will enjoy.
Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons by Dr. Ernest Drake – Dragonology is a wonderful book for older readers that love dragons. The book includes drawings, items you can touch or remove from the book, facts and history of dragons. Dragon enthusiast will enjoy this interactive book.
Castles
National Geographic Kids Everything Castles: Capture These Facts, Photos, and Fun to Be King of the Castle! by Crispin Boyer – National Geographic Kids Everything Castles includes wonderful photographs of castles from around the world, history, how they were built and many more facts. This is a great book to include in your study of medieval history.
A Year in a Castle by Rachel Coombs – A Year in a Castle takes a look at life in a castle one month at a time. With each turn of the page readers see the same bird’s eye view of the castle, but it changes with the month. Readers are able to see inside rooms and what each person is doing. There is not a lot of text, readers learn about life in the castle through the illustrations.
GET A FULL WEEK OF FAIRY TALE THEME LEARNING AND PLAY
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
- Apple Number Cards (0-35)
- “Counting Apples” emergent reader
- “I See Apples” emergent reader
- Apple Letters (uppercase and lowercase in both red and green)
- Apple Life Cycle Cards (in color and b/w)
- Label the Apple Diagram (in color and b/w) with labeling cards
- Apple Pattern Cards
- Put the Apples on the Tree Game Mat
- Editable cover and pages for a class apple book
GET YOUR FAIRY TALE THEME LESSON PLANS
All of our products are also available on Teachers Pay Teachers if you prefer to shop there.
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