tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post3908871943246778035..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Princesses with Attitude: My Top Ten Princess Books - by Emma BarnesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-52011239656702578832016-09-19T21:25:05.146+01:002016-09-19T21:25:05.146+01:00Can't you like diggers as well as princesses? ...Can't you like diggers as well as princesses? I was at university in the 70s. Germaine Greer stalked the earth with her wild hair and beautiful face and iconoclastic attitudes, and feminism was a given. But a few years later, I drew princesses for my small niece, and for both she and I, the pretty dresses were very much the point, though neither of us longed for pink or sequins in our own lives. (She has grown up to be a strong, independent woman who certainly did not hang about waiting for some foppish prince to roll up!) I can understand the fascination of princesses - and I can understand the fascination of diggers and dinosaurs too.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-48341924901150619452016-09-18T19:15:37.087+01:002016-09-18T19:15:37.087+01:00Princess series - my favourite ones. Kids love pri...Princess series - my favourite ones. Kids love princess characters. Explore more learning activities for kids in http://www.kidsfront.com/learn_with_fun.html<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12897392258467752711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-746143742292221842016-09-17T17:56:24.794+01:002016-09-17T17:56:24.794+01:00Interesting idea about the knight as opposed to pr...Interesting idea about the knight as opposed to prince thing, Emma - so the equivalent character to the princess would be the squire - knight-in-training, I guess. Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-11755891153225784282016-09-17T17:18:55.860+01:002016-09-17T17:18:55.860+01:00There may not be so many books about princes, Cath...There may not be so many books about princes, Cathy, but there have been lots of books about knights - maybe the male equivalent? King Arthur and his round table has always been a big deal (maybe a bit less so now, perhaps, as you say, because swords are a bit 'out'). "Mike the Knight" is still a popular preschool TV show. The idea of being a knight is typically more 'active' than the traditional idea of being a princess, but a lot of the princesses I've highlighted here are active too - like the Rescue Princesses, for example.<br /><br />For me the princess I adored from an early age was Elizabeth Tudor (the Jean Plaidy book) and what I liked about her was that she was talented, clever, educated and self sufficient - a survivor. No, she didn't go around bopping people over the head with a lance, she was a lot more formidable than that - and she didn't sit around waiting for a prince either (as we all know, she famously never married anybody.) Interestingly, she did pay attention to her clothes, but as a political weapon. She's a much more impressive figure than most pirates, say - and yet we seem to think that's a great role model for our children.<br /><br />Stroppy - I think Disney is so dominant that it blinds adults to the diverse "princess" characters out there. And in fact later Disney princesses are pretty active figures - Brave, for example, or the princesses of Frozen. And in those films the key relationships are mother/daughter and sister/sister - the prince is not a big deal at all.Emma Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02718171070716804800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-61450567711345766352016-09-17T08:13:08.818+01:002016-09-17T08:13:08.818+01:00Excellent point, Catherine. Currently observing ho...Excellent point, Catherine. Currently observing how exposure to the princess culture at nursery has infected a MicroBint too young to be grasping any concept of being important and people having to listen (surely the classic Disney princess genre rests on NOT being listened to?) and being all about wearing a dress like a pink meringue. Maybe no prince books because they don't get to wear anything interesting? At least not since publishers got scared of showing swords. Or they have to spend their time rescuing stupid princesses who have got out of their depth. I agree that for older children there are some princess books that offer a better role model (and a lot that don't), but the rot sets in with the pink dresses and has to be countered by these later books.<br />Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-21483885879292462002016-09-17T06:41:52.644+01:002016-09-17T06:41:52.644+01:00Thanks for that list!
Tangentially, I wonder why...Thanks for that list! <br /><br />Tangentially, I wonder why there are so few - actually, are there any - books about princes? On the face of it, they'd have the same appeal: being important, adults having to listen to you, etc. Yet it just isn't a "thing".Catherine Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693526864905868829noreply@blogger.com