Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › non mainstream princess recommendations
New Posts  All Forums:
 

non mainstream princess recommendations - Page 2

post #21 of 52
8/18/10 at 5:06pm
we tried to avoid disney princesses... but then let that go and she got it out of her system fairly quickly.... although it sill lingers in small ways- mostly bc she loves sparkly stuff....


dd1 lovesjane and the dragon.

there are a lot of great princess stories from around the world books made by barefoot books that we get from the library.

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
post #22 of 52
8/20/10 at 8:25pm
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a good book as well.(Although it is not technically about a princess) I loved it as a child and I will read it to my DD when she is older. There were a few movies made of the book, most notably with Shirley Temple, but there is a remake as well.
post #23 of 52
8/20/10 at 8:58pm
If you go to oompa.com and search for "princess," they have a few toys that would be age-appropriate. We have the Princess and the Pea game and love it!

You can also get tons of non-Disney coloring and sticker books:
http://www.amazon.com/Princesses-Sta...348681&sr=8-14

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Fairy-A...2348722&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Sticker-Activi...2348770&sr=1-4
post #24 of 52
8/20/10 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bebe's Mom View Post
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a good book as well.(Although it is not technically about a princess) I loved it as a child and I will read it to my DD when she is older. There were a few movies made of the book, most notably with Shirley Temple, but there is a remake as well.
I love that book! I must have read it a hundred times when I was a little girl. And Sara's not really a princess but I love the values she associates with being a princess-- dignity, generosity and humility. Quite the opposite of a lot of the "Princess" messages of today.
post #25 of 52
8/20/10 at 9:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by philomom View Post
We just got that one from the library and the whole family enjoyed it. I loved the little surprise twist at the very end too.
post #26 of 52
8/21/10 at 1:43pm
DD loves the Fancy Nancy books and has a Fancy Nancy doll too. She even dressed up as Fancy Nancy for Halloween last year.
post #27 of 52
8/21/10 at 1:48pm
Wow. That link is funny...but so extreme and just...geez! How about just explaining to your child all the good attributes of a princess, besides their looks? MY DD is SO into princesses, I resisted it at first but I gave in and just made it a positive thing. We talk about how Cinderella is loving to animals, kind and gentle, a hard worker, etc. We talk about how smart Belle is, she loves to read books, is not afraid to be different than her friends. We love Mulan, talk about how brave she is, how she too is not afraid to be who she really wants to be, and how she loves her family so much she takes her father's place. We also talk about how girls can do anything that boys can. We LOVE Tiana, how she works really hard to make her own dreams come true.
Anyway, just wanted to point that out....there are ways to let them enjoy the commercialism and make it a positive thing, IMO.
post #28 of 52
8/21/10 at 2:02pm
Dove Isabeau by Jane Yolen is a lovely picture book about a girl who is transformed into a dragon.

For older children, there are some good books - too young for a 3 y.o., but they might be good for read alouds in a few years:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (also a movie)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (although there is a horse that's killed and his head talks to the girl)

There are some good re-tellings of Tam Lin, a fairy tale where the girl rescues the knight - but unfortunately every single title escapes me right now!!
post #29 of 52
8/21/10 at 4:25pm
There's a fantastic book sort of inspired by Tam Lin, called The Perilous Gard, I think by Marie Elizabeth Pope (?). There is Princess Elizabeth at the start, and then Kate, who's a lady in waiting... it's a fantastic book, I loved it soooo much as a 12yo probably... it's pretty easy to read but I think a bit mature...
post #30 of 52
8/21/10 at 4:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mama2Bug View Post
We don't allow Disney Princess stuff in our home either (in short, here's why )


Not sure if you're a knitter but if you are you can find a nice felted princess hat on ravelry. I put some tulle from the top and my girls love it! It's totally pink and homemade!
post #31 of 52
8/21/10 at 6:30pm
We love Pinkalicious (and the following books).
post #32 of 52
8/21/10 at 6:52pm
We don't have many princess books but we do have a lot of princess dress up clothes. We make gowns and crowns using the Disney patterns and change the fabric to meet DD's requirements. She usually tells me when she's ready for a color change. lol
For the stories, we tend to make up our own. They usually involve unicorns and her Daddy. awwww
post #33 of 52
8/21/10 at 8:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermillion View Post
Ok, this might be a little above the age range you're looking for, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Here's a book, Dealing with Dragons, where the main character, Cimorene, is a very unconventional princess. I never got into the whole princess thing as a kid, but I absoultely LOVED this book and princess Cimorene.

Now I want to read it again!
I still have a copy of this book and read it once a year or so!
post #34 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:12am
Quote:
We don't allow Disney Princess stuff in our home either (in short, here's why )
It's amusing and all, but it's just not accurate. For one thing, it conveniently leaves out Pocahontas (who - in the movie version - saved a man using her position, not her sexuality, helped prevent a war and gave up the man she loved in order to better serve her people), Mulan (who, y'know, SAVED CHINA) and Tiana (a career gal who did the majority of the "saving" in the movie, by her wits, personality and talent rather than her sexuality).

For another thing, it just doesn't do justice to the films. Ariel wanted to "drastically change her appearance" long before she met Eric - you could just as easily describe her as a "woman who determined her own destiny over the objections of her traditionalist father", if you felt the need. Noting that Jasmine was saved by a "street rat" seems like an unnecessary bit of classism - would it have been OK if she'd been saved by an upper-class gentleman? Plus, she was never exactly "enslaved" by Jafar - captured, yes (as was Aladdin at one point). The statement that Belle "saved a prince's life by her only asset, her sexuality" is downright absurd. Her kindness, intelligence, tact and bravery were all factors in the Beast's falling in love with her, and her love of books is explicit in the film (unless that's not considered an "asset"?). Even Cinderella has more to her than the text implies - you don't see little woodland friends running to help the stepsisters fit into the shoe. She gets help from her friends because she's kind to them - so her character contributes to her fate. And calling Snow White's "only asset" beauty is rather uncharitable - she's a mean housekeeper and a kind human being (or again, is kindness not considered an asset these days?).

That's not to say Disney has no problems with gender portrayals. It does. But reducing characters to a few snarky soundbites isn't a particularly helpful critique, and sounds like the critic is more interested in proving a point than actually engaging with the text.
post #35 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:27am
I'd try to move her over to fairies. Disney Fairies are actually pretty awesome. They all have jobs to do.
post #36 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Purplegal View Post
Wow. That link is funny...but so extreme and just...geez! How about just explaining to your child all the good attributes of a princess, besides their looks? MY DD is SO into princesses, I resisted it at first but I gave in and just made it a positive thing. We talk about how Cinderella is loving to animals, kind and gentle, a hard worker, etc. We talk about how smart Belle is, she loves to read books, is not afraid to be different than her friends. We love Mulan, talk about how brave she is, how she too is not afraid to be who she really wants to be, and how she loves her family so much she takes her father's place. We also talk about how girls can do anything that boys can. We LOVE Tiana, how she works really hard to make her own dreams come true.
Anyway, just wanted to point that out....there are ways to let them enjoy the commercialism and make it a positive thing, IMO.
Love this and honestly, once I stopped resisting the princess think, I found it was only one of DD's many interests.
post #37 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:47am
There are some good parts to the Disney princesses (although we're holding off on most no matter what, b/c they are way too violent/intense for DD anyway) and we do really enjoy the Disney fairies, too. DD has totally gotten into inventing things. Not bad for a character I HATED from the Peter Pan play (she tried to kill Wendy, for heaven's sake! talk about "there can be only one" anti-feminism )

We watched the Disney TV Cinderella again, as it happened, for movie night, and had a lot of great conversations about how Cinderella was getting out of there on her own, before the prince showed up with the shoe, and how she had to make her dream come true, and how he loved her in rags, not just her pretty dress, and how the prince was unhappy with his fancy life and pressures, too, etc etc... but mostly DD A) loved the dancing and singing and big white poufy dress and B) was ticked they only showed the beginning of the story, and not when Chris and Cinderella make babies Because when you get married, then you're a mommy and daddy. So we got to talk about how so many stories stop at the wedding, too.

I was thinking of another great movie, for way older kids-- Ever After. Cinderella/Danielle saves herself with a sword and rescues the prince, too. And fights for class rights! Pretty awesome.

The few times DD has played princess, she's ridden a pegasus to find and save a lost baby dragon. But luckily as much as she likes princesses, she never wants to dress up as one and plays paleontologist and doctor and fairy and Mary Poppins MUCH more.

Someone mentioned Ella Enchanted-- the book is much better than the movie (I student taught middle school when it hit, and everyone was disgusted with the movie!) and Gail Carson Leviene's Two Princesses of Bamarre is EXCELLENT. There are even fairies, too
post #38 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:47am
Can't think of the name, but there is a series of videos depicting "Princess Gigi" (it depicts general Judeo-Christian ethics, but not in a preachy way, like being unselfish, and remembering your parents have your best interests at heart, etc)

What I like about it is Gigi is just a little girl, but she is also a princess-- idk how to describe whether it is more fantasy/ imaginary princess or while dreaming, but her irl fam and friends also accept that she's a princess.

Very cute, good for the quite young, and not so syrupy that mom and dad will desire to hide the disk.

blessings

I have to admit, my princess was way into the dress up aspect, and both she and her step sister got WAY over the princessy desires when I handmade them each a flowy silk flower girl gown of her own, complete w pale blue silk sash.
post #39 of 52
8/22/10 at 12:49am
here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Gigi-Gods-Litt.../dp/B000PSISW4
post #40 of 52
8/22/10 at 8:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermillion View Post
Ok, this might be a little above the age range you're looking for, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Here's a book, Dealing with Dragons, where the main character, Cimorene, is a very unconventional princess. I never got into the whole princess thing as a kid, but I absoultely LOVED this book and princess Cimorene.

Now I want to read it again!
I was just about to make this exact same post! There are also three more books in the series (two more with Cimorene, and one that is about her son).
New Posts  All Forums:
 
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Parenting

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › non mainstream princess recommendations