Growing Bookworms – Girl Power! – Breaking those Gender Stereotypes

My daughter is a girly girl! She’s far more girly than me – I’m happy in a pair of jeans and trainers, whereas she is a pretty sandals and dress kind of girl all the way! In fact on the rare occasions that I do wear a skirt she always compliments me, which is nice although it does make me feel like she thinks I should make a bit more effort the rest of the time!

When she was about 4 years old we paid a visit to London and whilst Dad and the boys were browsing a war museum we chose to go to Harrods. As soon as we entered the store my little girl immediately homed in on the Prada handbag display and was oohing and aahing in delight. At 4 years old she was a fashion victim completely self-invented and certainly no influence from her mother!

And yet despite all of this she has an inherent toughness that underpins her girly character. Growing up with two older brothers she has spent a large amount of her time climbing trees, going off on long walks and seeking out adventures. She has embraced all of this with gusto and enthusiasm and rarely complains.

Consequently she likes to read books about adventure, brave heroes and heroines and exciting conquests of good over evil.

However, one thing we have found is that “girly” books can often be a bit disappointing. They can feel a little trite and superficial. It can be quite tricky to find adventures that are as robust as some of the books that seem to be more aimed at boys.

It seems that publishers may need to catch up with a modern world that is demanding equality for women and is teaching our young girls that they have just as many choices open to them as boys. A world where we want to encourage them to break new ground in the future in fields such as science, technology, exploration and the like. Girls who may one day change the world.

Do you have a girl in your family who loves adventure and may one day change the world? Here are some books that my daughter and I enjoyed –