Princesses with power tools!
Now who doesn’t love that?
I certainly did!
I love, love, loved
Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple and illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin.
It is a rhyming story that addresses the inaccuracies of stereotypical “princess” behavior and appearance.
The princess featured in this story is not your run-of-the-mill blonde-haired, blue-eyed princess in a gown.
Rather, the princess in this story has black hair, black eyes, and darker skin and loves playing soccer, getting dirty, fixing things, and saving herself from dragons and life in a tower.
The other characters in the story are diverse in appearance as well.
I think this sends a wonderful message to young girls that they can do anything they want and still be a sparkly princess at heart.
The word choice is elevated and not insulting to the reader and the rhyming is arranged in such a way that the poetic story flows off the reader’s tongue.
The illustrations appear to be done in bright watercolors and truly bring the story to life.
The words, although beautiful, don’t tell us much about what this progressive princess and her behaviors look like, but the pictures really add depth to the story and prove to the imagination of the reader that a princess really is doing these things.
I would use this story as an introduction to stereotypes, without using that word of course.
Before reading the book, I would make a list with the class of what a princess does and looks like.
After reading this book, I would ask the class to add new behaviors and appearance traits to the list and facilitate a discussion about what the students thought of the story and its main character.
Students could draw pictures of themselves as a prince or princesses doing activities that they love.
I possibly would follow this book up with other books featuring princesses and princes in non-stereotypical ways.
Year Published: 2010
Illustrator: Anne-Sophie Lanquetin
No comments:
Post a Comment