African Princess a la Olivia

My 4 year old daughter has a bad case of princess fever.  And it happens to be running especially high this time of year––Halloween being just around the corner and all.

Happily, I discovered Ian Falconer's Olivia and the Fairy Princesses;  A brilliant book about a precocious girl (pig) who, while in the middle of an identity crisis, rejects the popular pink princess phenomena.

Olivia asks these questions: "Why is it always a pink princess?  Why not an Indian princess or a princess from Thailand or an African princess or a princess from China?"

"There are alternatives."  She declares.

I love this.  After all, questioning the princess plague was the subject of my own book, Every-Day Dress-Up.  (Out this time last year.)

Fortunately, my daughter loves Falconer's new book too.

Upon first read, she was especially drawn to the image of Olivia as an African princess.  By her own volition she decided that was the type of princess she wanted to be for Halloween.  Phew.  Dodged that fuchsia bullet.

Now, the fun part.  Helping her make the costume!

We found most of the raw ingredients at the dollar store.  My daughter said we should use aluminum foil to build the neck rings.  Bingo.

Then we looked for African kente cloth, which was no easy task.  We decided to buy a green scarf on the street.  My son suggested using a sharpie to immitate the African-style designs in Ian Falconer's illustration.  It worked well (thanks, Isaiah!)

And voila!  Here's Ginger - as Olivia - as an African princess.  

Celebrate Women's History Month!

Ella Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sonya Sotomayer, Julia Child, Maria Tallchief, Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keefe.

These are just some of the heroines that appear in my book, Every-Day Dress-Up (which came out in October). The little girl in the book ditches her princess duds to dress-up as real women from history every day of the week.

Kirkus Reviews declared it, "a happy antidote to the princess plague".

And the book was put on the Amelia Bloomer List of appealing children's books with feminist content. Very nice indeed!

To celebrate Women's History Month, I have written a special guest post on KidLit Celebrates Women's History Blog, appearing on March 3rd.

Plus, There will be an exciting event at powerHouse Books on March 25th, where I will read from Every-Day Dress-Up along with my husband, illustrator Sean Qualls, who will read from his swinging Ella Fitzgerald book, Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat.

Please come join us!

Sunday, March 25th

3-4PM

powerHouse Arena

37 Main Street, DUMBO

Life Imitates Art

October (& November) came and went with much fan fare, and I'm only now recovering from all the dressing-up hoopla. With the release of my book, Every-Day Dress-Up, falling so close to the most popular dress-up holiday of the year, it was an explosion of self-promotion and costume-making creativity. For Halloween, I designated my daughter Ginger, as the great Amelia Earhart, for whom the protagonist imitates. A little bit of back story (if you haven't read my book yet): Each day of the week the girl dresses-up as a different woman from history using things she finds around the house to make her costumes. Nifty, huh? This concept is true to my heart; The idea of reusing materials appeals to both my creative impulses and my environmental agenda. So, I made her mask out of a bathing cap, goggles and buttons, and I converted her stroller into an airplane with cardboard, craft paper and paint. Her brother's button down shirt and a scarf provided the final touches. G wore the outfit with just the right amount of sass and aplomb. At 3 1/2, I think it was the first year she really 'got' who she was, and owned it! Of course, I've read her the book about a million times– which helped. I've posted some photos of my daughter in costume, the illustration from Every-Day Dress-Up, plus a pic of the great Ms. Earhart herself.

Launch Party!

BookCourt hosted a fabulous kick-off for EVERY-DAY DRESS-UP Saturday night. The evening could not have been better; good friends, wine & cheese, revved-up kids, and books! Here are some pictures. P.S. Ginger & I dressed up as characters from the book. Can you guess who we are?

Book Trailer. Hooray!

Stay tuned for my new book, EVERY-DAY DRESS-UP. Release date: October 11, 2011!

Cheers to my Gal Peers!

Yesterday marked International Women's Day– Hooray! All month long, as we march toward spring, we celebrate the accomplishments of women past and present. Above is an image from my upcoming book, EVERY DAY DRESS UP (10/'11 Knopf). Appropriately costumed, Elizabeth Cady Stanton leads the way for Eleanor Roosevelt, Sonia Sotomayor - and women all over - to have equal rights and representation. Happy Women's History month to all you lovely ladies!

The Pink Debate

I'll admit it, I like pink. It happens to be a flattering color for me to wear. And I don't really have a problem dressing my daughter in pink. Especially since we get so many nifty hand-me-downs. Who I am to refuse free clothes?

Yet with my daughter about to turn 3, I have mixed feelings about the seemingly inevitable princess dress-up phase.

I'm looking forward to working through some of these conflicting feelings by reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter, which was reviewed in this Sunday's Times.

It seems there are many things to question. One thing that struck me is that pre-2000 there were no mass-produced Disney princess outfits for dress-up. That is, until a brilliant marketer capitalized on the natural gender identification age, and turned it into a multi-billion dollar industry.

For those mothers (or aunts or grandmothers or family friends!) who might be looking for an alternative to the panoply of princess dress-up books out there, my next book Every-Day Dress-Up might be just the solution.

I offer girls a chance to learn about real women who have done great things with their lives. The heroine dons outfits of such icons as: Frida Kahlo, Marie Curry, Eleanor Roosevelt and Julia Child, every day of the week.

There's probably no way to avoid the 'princessification' of girls entirely. But, why not give our impressionable daughters some alternatives?

Every-Day Dress-Up (Knopf) comes out this Fall. More to come!

Author Costume Photo Shoot

Halloween was perfect timing this year. The kids had to dress-up anyway AND I needed an author photo for my Dress-Up book. How apropos!

Ginger is still young enough that I can impose my ideas on her. Lucky for her, being Frida Khalo is a pretty cool idea. Frida's a character in my book, Every-Day Dress-Up (Knopf, 2011). Or I should say, my main character dresses-up as Frida. And her sister dresses-up as Georgia O'Keefe (That's me! That's right, I made myself look 40 years older for this photo-shoot. I am not vain!) Oh and Diego Rivera is, well, he's not really in the book. But I thought it would be only fair to include Isaiah. The thing is, he wasn't so into it. His idea of a real Halloween costume is something super scary. After this photo shoot he coined himself, "The Mysterious Freak", wearing blood red clothes with plastic spiders all over... but, I digress. For the sake of getting a 'cute author photo' I had to dress-up my kids appropriately, darn-it.

In the end, I chose the top photo of me & Ginger; Two Female Artists– since it IS a book about girls dressing-up (& their role-models). Anyway, I think Isaiah already had his turn in the spotlight as the protagonist in, "I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother". It's only fair, after all.

Dress-Up! & Fall Line-Up!

I'm rushing out the door to deliver art for my latest book, EVERY-DAY DRESS-UP!...

Dress-Up is about a girl who used to only play princess until she discovers real, great women from History, and decides to dress-up as a different Heroine every day of the week!

Sparking some ideas for alternative Halloween costumes? Personally, I'm looking forward to dressing up my Ginger as Frida Kahlo. EVERY-DAY DRESS-UP! comes out in the Fall 2011.

Before I leave, here's what's going on THIS Fall:

Saturday (tomorrow!) October 16 at The Brooklyn Public Library is FAMILY DAY. From 10:30 - 3 in the main lobby there will be book readings, music, activities and a chance to meet your favorite Brooklyn children's book illustrators. I'll be there signing books + some new prints too!

This Thursday, October 21 I'll be taking part in a multicultural literacy conference with Reach Out & Read at the Scholastic in SOHO. From 8:30 - 11:30 am join Pat Cummings, R. Gregory Christie and myself as we talk about diversity in picture books. It is free and open to the public.

Next Sunday, October 24 is GHOULS & GOURDS at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This great festival has a spooky book barn and I'll be there again this year signing books all day long. Come on by to say, "boo!"

November 20 at 2:30 pm at the Brooklyn Public Library I'll be leading a TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP. Bring your little ones for this free afternoon making subway cars from recycled materials. I'll be reading My Subway Ride to get your kids in the mood to make trains!