Sunday, July 8, 2012

Fan Art

Teggs & General Loki
My daughter loves Steve Cole's books, specially the Astrosaurs, so her drawings are full of dinosaurs. I'm not surprised since her two favourite topics at the moment are dinosaurs & space and these books combine both. However I find it slightly ironic that she doesn't even glance at all the pink, sparkly, super-sweetness-oozing kitten, fluffy bunnies or fairies books targeted to girls of her age; but goes straight for the ones packed with action and darker colours.

5 comments:

Tanya said...

Maya is very much into pink, sparkly & girly. I try & encourage other things too & also try & make her aware that she doesn't need to restrict herself to girl targeted things but she's very much a convert & I cannot pursuade her that girls can do anything boys can & vice versa. She gets it from other girls her age & already her peers are an influence. I just hope if I keep talking about gender issues & lead by example she can come to realise that she doesn't have to restrict herself.

Annie said...

I can't imagine having to read sciencey books aloud - but I do think it would be better than princessy ones.

I was briefly afraid that Anastasia might be princess material, but got lucky. No "horsey" girls either.

I wasn't into "pink and cutsie" things myself, but did vastly prefer feminine and domestic things to anything more typically "masculine".

My personal feeling is that we should cherish whatever it is that our children gravitate to - and not think less of things that are considered feminine....that is playing right into gender bias! To push one girl into "girly" things is no worse than to make another girl feel less valued because that is what delights her. JMO (which I can never refrain from sharing)

Annie said...

So thrilled to see a post!

driftwood said...

gorgeous dinosaurs! apparently I was dino obsessed and carried a ladybird book of dinosaurs everywhere I went.....

Zoya said...

Tanya, Katya also went through the stage of "my favourite colour is pink, because all the girls like pink"

Annie, I'm happy to cherish whatever my kids like/want to be/etc. What really bugs me is how some books seem to be created purely for the quick appeal/sale by mixing stereotypical girls or boys ingredients without much literary or other merit.

Tess, :-) I can imagine that about you.