Good "girl power" books

As a mother of 2 daughters, I am always in favor of finding books that celebrate impressive women. I've stumbled upon a couple picture-book biographies in recent months that have particularly resonated with my girls -- and that I've enjoyed reading as well.

Georgia's Bones by Jen Bryant
A biography of Georgia O'Keefe. My parents went on a trip to New Mexico and came back with this book. It is a simply eloquent insight into the mind of a young artist. The lovely illustrations incorporate several of O'Keefe's (G-rated) works.




You Can't Do That, Amelia! by Kimberly Wagner Klier
A biography about Amelia Earhart. It's always fun to read about someone surpassing everyone's expectations. This book takes such a fun, great approach to Earhart's accomplishments -- and also stays away from the topic of the end of her life, as that may be difficult and confusing for young readers.





I highly recommend these for your next trip to the library or bookstore (or for the girls -- and boys -- on your holiday gift list!). They're well written, and I always appreciate a history lesson for myself.

Strange bedfellows

Jellybean loves books -- like, so much that she sleeps with them. Literally. Books in her bed. Every night.

I also love books, but the thought of large hunks of hardcover storybooks poking me from every angle while I attempt to slumber is not the least bit appealing. I'll stick to reading them and placing them on my nightstand. Jellybean will not; in the bed they go.

Books in her bed have been a nightly request for, oh, almost three years. I thought it was a phase that would last a couple weeks at most. Shows what I know.

It all started 3+ years ago when I was out of town, and L came in to get 1-year-old Jellybean out of her crib in the morning. Her crib was strewn with books, nearly covering the entire surface. She had maneuvered them through the slats, presumably one by one, the previous night while L thought she was asleep. (Her nightstand was in close proximity)

Pretty much ever since then, at every naptime and bedtime she has asked for books in her bed -- and we have complied. She likes to look through them and "read" them (i.e., recite them from memory) to herself before drifting off to sleep. But that's only a small part of them. I think she actually draws comfort from the books' mere presence. Often she's too tired to even touch them, but there they remain, carefully tucked under her pillow all night long. They're there if she needs them.

Other times, she dives in and reads each one, then arranges them to suit her sleeping comfort. I have performed many a delicate nighttime book extrication in the dark to prevent her from rolling onto them or knocking them onto the floor (which has happened more times than I can count -- THUD, in the middle of the night).

She has her lovey Berkeley Bear, her quilt and her books. What more does a girl need for her beauty rest?

Side note: The books make for great leverage if she's misbehaving at bedtime. "If you keep acting like this, there will be no books in your bed tonight." Problem solved.

Retro reads

My mom is a pack rat (hoarder?), and because of that we have many (too many, probably) toys and items leftover from my childhood. Not just the requisite old baby blanket, but also two boxes of Barbie junk, random toys, a stuffed Ernie and about 50 books and...I'll stop there because I want to discuss the books.

From those old books have emerged some of my girls' favorite stories. A few have been re-issued, like my old Mr. and Little Miss books, but others are available at libraries or your favorite online book trader (I'm a Paperbackswap.com type myself). In the interest of fairness, I also traded for L's fave so the girls could enjoy that. I'm sharing these in case you're in search of old-school reads to go along with your Elmo-does-everything, Disney-redundancy, and learning-with-Dora selections that are a dime a dozen.

Here are our good old books, in no particular order:

The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper -- the Loren Long illustrated version is beautiful, and of course the story is timeless

Mrs. Duck's Lovely Day, by Vivienne Blake -- we read this on really rainy days

Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel -- four separate stories in one little book

Little Toot, by Hardie Gramatky -- L's favorite, about a harbor tug boat that also happens to be a modern-day environmental hazard (bygones...)

Buzzita, by Rhoda McBain -- actually from my mom's childhood (!); one of my favorite stories ever

The Little Squeegy Bug, by Bill and Bernard Martin -- has a character with a gun, but that gets reproached, and the rest of the story is adorable

Corduroy, by Don Freeman -- the original story, not tampered-with new Corduroy, which isn't near as good

Most of our books are in pretty good shape, but a few need a new binding. I have no idea where to start with that or if it's even possible in this day and age. Not to mention, I'd have some 'splaining to do if any of these books went AWOL for any period of time.

Misters and Misses

My girls, particularly Jellybean, have become fascinated with the Roger Hargreaves "Mr." and "Little Miss" books. Remember those from your childhood? They've been reissued, probably targeted at people like me who had them as a kid. I kept my old ones, so we have a few that mention non-PC things like cigars (gasp!).

Which got me thinking that it's time for a new group of Misters and Misses. Here are a few contemporary ones I've come up with while reading the old ones to my kids. I would love to write these and have them illustrated -- but then I would get my ass sued off, I'm sure. Wish I was arty, and I would have given you a visual concept of these. Feel free to add your own:

Mr. Postal
Mr. Metrosexual
Mr. Has Been
Mr. Pundit
Mr. Phobia
Mr. Debt
Mr. Chronic (thank you, Michael Phelps, for the inspiration)
Mr. Loser
Mr. Gangsta
Mr. Hipster
Mr. Workaholic
Mr. Playa

Little Miss People Pleaser
Little Miss Granola
Little Miss Famous
Little Miss Blogger
Little Miss Neurosis
Little Miss Manolos
Little Miss Diva
Little Miss Vegan
Little Miss Co-Dependent
Little Miss CEO
Little Miss Slut