Anika Noni Rose, Voice of Disney's Tiana, Shares an Important Lesson to Future Princesses in Her New Book (Exclusive)

Dave QuinnMon, March 23, 2026 at 1:01 PM UTC

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Anika Noni Rose as the Los Angeles screening of 'The Mighty Nein' in November 2025Credit: Jennifer Johnson/Shutterstock for Amazon Studios

Key Takeaways

Anika Noni Rose’s new children’s book celebrates princesses of all identities and emphasizes inner qualities over appearance

The idea for the book was inspired by Rose’s childhood experiences and her role as Disney’s first Black princess, Tiana

Rose hopes the book encourages kids to embrace their uniqueness and see reading as a way to expand their imagination

Anika Noni Rose knows what it means to be a princess. And now, she’s helping the next generation define it for themselves.

The Tony Award-winning actress — who famously voiced Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog — is readying the release of her second children’s book, A Princess Is a Princess (out Sept. 22).

PEOPLE has the exclusive debut of the cover of the Jessica Gibson-illustrated picture book, which celebrates princesses of all identities, abilities and dreams, reminding young readers that what makes someone royal isn’t how they look — it’s who they are.

“You don’t have to add something to yourself,” Rose, 53, tells PEOPLE. “If you wear glasses, you don’t have to take them off to be a princess. If you have freckles, if you are brown — it doesn’t matter. It’s really about the inside, how you feel about yourself and how you treat other people.”

The cover of Anika Noni Rose's new book, 'A Princess Is a Princess'Credit: Penguin Random House

The idea has been with Rose for years, dating back to around 2015, when she began reflecting on her own childhood and the subtle ways kids are often taught to reshape themselves to fit a certain mold.

“Whenever we played princesses, we had to do something to make our hair long, or to make our hair blonde; it was always something to make you different so that you could feel like a princess,” she says. “And I felt like, 'I want these little girls who are princess-inclined to feel that whatever they are is quite enough.' "

That message took on even greater meaning after The Princess and the Frog debuted in 2009, introducing Disney’s first Black princess to audiences around the world.

A still from 'The Princess and the Frog'Credit: Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection

While Rose says most of the response to Tiana was overwhelmingly positive, she was also struck by moments of negativity that revealed how narrow some people’s ideas of a princess could be.

"There are always people on social media who are going to send you something mean because that brings them joy and that's what they do. They have an unfulfilled life that they need to get up in the morning and send something horrible on Twitter that they don't even know. And I thought about that a lot. Like, 'Huh, that's interesting that you felt the need to reach out with ugliness to a stranger because of your own limited vision. Maybe it's time to expand that.' "

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“There are actual living princesses all over the world, but we’re talking about fantasy,” she says. “Surely there’s room for people to see themselves in that space. If you feel like a princess as a child, there shouldn't be a boundary on what that is. You should be able to live in the fun of that and the truth of who you are. That's really the bottom line for me."

With A Princess Is a Princess, Rose wants to widen that space for the next generation, but without making the message feel like homework. “It’s important when we’re talking to children that it doesn’t feel like a lesson,” she explains. “It feels like a journey. It feels like fun; just something they take in and they realized and then they go in and pass on to someone else.”

"It's sometimes hard to do things that you've not seen. But if you've seen things and you've experienced kindness, it's much easier to pass that on."

A lifelong reader, Rose says books played a defining role in her own upbringing, shaping both her imagination and her sense of self.

“I was a reading child. I loved children’s books so much, and I was so shaped by them,” she says. “And I love encouraging children to read. I want kids to have that same feeling about reading. Reading is an adventure that you don't have to leave your house for; that can take you anywhere. And literature can expand your minds beyond your reality. I want kids to read a book and see the possibilities ahead of them. And decide or themselves, 'I can write my own journey.' "

Anika Noni Rose poses at a photo call for the new Manhattan Theatre Club play 'The Balusters' on Feb. 26, 2026 in New York CityCredit: Bruce Glikas/WireImage

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Now, the actress — who will soon be back on Broadway in The Balusters, which begins performances on March 31 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in New York City — hopes her second book might one day sit alongside the stories that meant so much to her growing up.

"There are so many beautiful books for children, and it thrills me to think that somebody might grow up and, in the midst of all the amazing books they read, also think fondly about something that I put into the world,” she says. "That actually gives me chills just to think about. I can only hope to make that type of impact."

A Princess Is a Princess is available for pre-order now.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”