Sunday, March 2, 2014

Olivia and the Fairy Princesses

As I write this, the movie 300 is on in the background. I generally don’t have time to watch movies, but lately, the girl has been sick and taking extra naps. This week, I’ve managed to have background viewing of both the movies 300 and Brave. Interestingly, I managed to find a common theme in both of these movies.
Both of these movies have strong, female characters. In Brave, Merida was one of the first non-traditional princesses. She was not waiting for her prince to rescue her and in fact, she was ready to rescue herself. Everywhere you turn, there is such an abundance of pink and princess, it is hard to escape.
So, when I saw Olivia and the Fairy Princesses by Ian Falconer at the book fair, I was immediately turned off. First, I have not been impressed with the Olivia books lately. While I loved the first Olivia book (Olivia embodied everything I hoped a spunky, young pig would) I felt like the last ones were rather tiresome. Second, it had Olivia on the cover in a pink tutu/skirt. Really?
I couldn’t have been more wrong. I ran around the book fair reading this book to everyone who would listen. I bought it for the girl, her cousin, and it’s my new top gift for girls.
I love the message that Olivia once again shows about being yourself. She clearly explains that there is no need to follow along with what everyone else is doing, that everyone should be themselves. Falconer has a sense of humor in the illustrations that made me laugh aloud several times.


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