(no subject)
So I'm thinking about children's literature. There are five books I absolutely must have for my son - Fox in Socks, Winnie the Pooh / The House at Pooh Corner, Little Fox Goes to the End of the World*, Never Tease a Weasel, and Dominic. I own four of the five, and need to order a used copy of Never Tease a Weasel soon, because I don't know what happened to my copy from when I was young, and I hate the illustrations in the new one.
But what I really hate about the new one is that now the boy is on the front cover, not the girl. When I pick up the old one, that will bring the total number of girls on the cover of books to 2, and the total number of girls who are active characters to... 2, if I recall correctly. I don't think Kanga really rises to that level, and if I recall correctly the only two females in Dominic are relatively passive. And I don't expect books other people buy for my son are going to move those needles much.
So I'm thinking that any book I buy for him sua sponte** will (1) have at least 1/3 of the obviously gendered characters on the cover be female and (2) have at least 1/3 of the active characters in the book be female. So that means no Very Hungry Caterpillar and no Poky Little Puppy and no McElligot's Pool and no Where the Wild Things Are and the more I think about how many books there are that don't fit this rule for no good reason, the more it makes me want to follow this rule. Why is the caterpillar male? Why is Roo male? I find it very frustrating. But as I think back on all the books I read as a kid myself, it's hard to find any that meet my rule.
So - any suggestions? Obviously, I have plenty of time to shop and look around myself, but I just want to know if anyone has any books about girls who do stuff that I should look into.
* - entertainingly mislisted in one entry on Amazon as "LITTLE FOX GOES TO END WORLD"
** - obviously, once he starts to ask for books himself, I'll buy him things he wants in addition to all the books about girls I keep shoving at him.
But what I really hate about the new one is that now the boy is on the front cover, not the girl. When I pick up the old one, that will bring the total number of girls on the cover of books to 2, and the total number of girls who are active characters to... 2, if I recall correctly. I don't think Kanga really rises to that level, and if I recall correctly the only two females in Dominic are relatively passive. And I don't expect books other people buy for my son are going to move those needles much.
So I'm thinking that any book I buy for him sua sponte** will (1) have at least 1/3 of the obviously gendered characters on the cover be female and (2) have at least 1/3 of the active characters in the book be female. So that means no Very Hungry Caterpillar and no Poky Little Puppy and no McElligot's Pool and no Where the Wild Things Are and the more I think about how many books there are that don't fit this rule for no good reason, the more it makes me want to follow this rule. Why is the caterpillar male? Why is Roo male? I find it very frustrating. But as I think back on all the books I read as a kid myself, it's hard to find any that meet my rule.
So - any suggestions? Obviously, I have plenty of time to shop and look around myself, but I just want to know if anyone has any books about girls who do stuff that I should look into.
* - entertainingly mislisted in one entry on Amazon as "LITTLE FOX GOES TO END WORLD"
** - obviously, once he starts to ask for books himself, I'll buy him things he wants in addition to all the books about girls I keep shoving at him.