Anyone have a recommendation for a picture book, with a girl main character, that's not all princessy and stuff, but also not so far to the "Look! Girls can do anything!" side that it gets preachy? I was thinking One Morning in Maine, but I think that's aimed a little older than what I'm looking for. Blueberries for Sal, which I love the book, just struck me as a bit too gender-essentialist today. (Yes, I'm way over-analyzing a baby gift. This kid will have plenty of pink and princess stuff, but her parents would probably look a bit askance at the Free to Be You and Me type things.)
Spike ,'Get It Done'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
What about The Paper Bag Princess? I guess someone could think it was preachy, but I just love it.
I really wish that Tell Me a Mitzi were still in print. I loved that book, so much.
I was going to say Paper Bag Princess too. If it's a new-baby gift, though, go with the Knuffle Bunny trilogy. Or an Elephant and Piggie book. (Today I Will Fly or Watch Me Throw The Ball for starters.)
I really wish that Tell Me a Mitzi were still in print. I loved that book, so much.
OMG, we had that book and read it to pieces (not literally). My mom probably has it stashed away with the rest of our prized baby books. Our first cat was named Mitzi, though I'm not sure there was a connection.
I'm trying to remember the story of Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls but I really only remember that I loved the name and cover. And wanted the poster when it came out. The floor below me did the design and I coveted. Maybe I still do.
Wolves in the Walls is probably not an appropriate baby gift...Blueberry Girl doesn't so much have a story, but is very nice.
Seconding Knuffle Bunny
Aims suggest Fancy Nancy as a possibility, or the Olivia books...
The Olivia books are a fave in our house. But for a baby, we loved the Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton.
The Olivia books are a fave in our house. But for a baby, we loved the Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton.
I like "Katy and the Big Snow." Katy is a bulldozer, and the strongest one (they don't send her out for just little snows). Nothing is made of the fact that she's a female bulldozer; it's just taken for granted.
(Mike Mulligan's steam shovel is also female.)