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Victoria above mentioned the Swallows and Amazons, this is my 4.5 year old daughter's favorite being-read-to bedtime stories. There are lots of good role models in this series, children with all kinds of different strengths being appreciated for what they can do. One of the lead girl characters (and the leader of all the kids) is an adventurous pirate, there are other more domestic girls but they are appreciated because having them along allows the kids to go camping by themselves without starving.

I *just* figured out this blog existed. Sigh.

I had bought Tatterhood for my daughter. Many different stories of adventures, and they are *not* rewrites of old fairy tales (turning princes to princesses, etc).

See, we do read your blog.

My daughter will be 4 in a month and I'm a Kindergarten teacher. Her fav's are Maisy books, simple, plus she can "read" them to us:)
Like other's said Paperbag Princess is a classic, Olivia books are also good. Kevin Henkes books are very good too. A favorite with my class is Owl Babies. Who Hoots and Who Hops is also good for this age. The Mo Williams books are genius.

hi!
"Catherine, Called Birdy" by Karen Cushman. hilarious.

I'm really late to this party so forgive me if you've gotten this suggestion. We love "Peg and the Yeti" here (Kenneth Opel and Barbara Reid) and also Jillian Jiggs (Phoebe Gillman). Both 100% Canadian too!

Hope you're still reading these!

Clever Beatrice, Clever Beatrice and the Little Pony, and A Clever Beatrice Christmas, all by Margaret Willey--you will love them; they also offer opportunities to do fun voices

A Ride on the Red Mare, by Ursula K. LeGuin--it has knitting in it!

Kate and the Beanstalk--can't remember the author

Tasty Baby Bellybuttons--again, can't remember author; very brave little heroine

Enjoy!

Try the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce they are wonderful stories about a girl who wants to be a knight. They might be a little old for her but everything Tamora Pierce writes is fantastic and has amazing female protagonists.

My sister passed this link on to me, and Im glad she did! There are tons of great ideas, here!

My personal favorite kid's book is called Stephanie's Ponytail, and it is hilarious. Stephanie has a ponytail, and the other kids make fun of her, but she doesnt care.

When she gets older, The Ordinary Princess, the Dealing with Dragons series, anything by Tamora Pierce (although most of those are more preteen/teen), and the Little House books are wonderful.

I'd recommend the Charlie and Lola or Clarice Bean books. They both have strong female main characters in them. They're also picture books so still good for a pre-reader.

My dd#1 loved Junie B. Jones.

Katie Morag books by Mairi Hedderwick. They are about a girl who lives on the Isle of Struay (west coast of Scotland) with her parents and little brother. Her 2 grannies are wonderful also.

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens/katiemorag/home.htm

My 3 year old daughter likes Olivia and she absolutely loves this story -- The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig -by Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury. Its not specified if the wolves are male or female -- they could be either. It is a great story with a good lesson.

That's Hockey by Dave Bouchard, illustrated by Dean Griffiths.
...oh and "HI!"

The Eloise books by Kay Thompson. The original has never been bettered, and Eloise in Paris is very good fun (complete with a fitting with M. Dior).
Oh my, she'll have fun with Nanny and Skipperdee and Weenie.

"Cinder Edna" by Ellen Jackson. Cinder Edna lives next door to Cinderella and while her circumstances are the same as Cinderella's, she makes some different choices. Funny!

My daughters, now 12 and 16, enjoyed the Milly-Molly-Mandy books by Joyce Lankester Brisley.

This isn't exactly a picture book, but might still make a good storytime story. I adore Ida B...and her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster and (Possibly) Save the World. It's just wonderful, in my opinion, at any age.

Pippy Longstocking is a classic and it's fun for both your daughter and for you.

JoAnne

I have boys can't help with the book, however it looks like people have found you again.

I don't have any girls (just boys), but I like to expose them to strong female characters. So here are a few of our favs: "The Paperbag Princess" (a princess who saves the prince from the dragon, but then decides he's too stuck up and doesn't marry him afterall), "The Princess Knight" (who's father raises her like his sons and she becomes a better knight than all of them) and "Igraine the Brave" (a chapter book about a girl who uses magic, bravery and ingenuity to save her family from an evil and bungling sorcery).

N-thing Mo Willems, and also "Hi!"

The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales. My mother gave it to me long ago and I still love it. Lots of smart women rescuing slower men from their stupidity or vanity. I'll also throw my vote towards Olivia, Frances, and Lilly. Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books can be very good for older little girls, although they're a bit old-fashioned at times and can be scary. And Nancy Drew when she's older (the old-school variety).

This is a great resource -- not just for now, but as your daughter gets older, too. "Great Books for Girls" by Kathleen O'Dean

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Books-Girls-Inspire-Tomorrows/dp/0345450213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228846260&sr=1-1

A good children's librarian should be able to point you to LOTS of titles. If that's not helpful, let me know, and I'll put my MLS to work and get you lists (and lists, and lists)!

Growing up with a mother who was a librarian, and is now a professor teaching Children's Literature to Elementary school teachers, had me reading at a young age. But when I was too little to read on my own we read together.

Lots of my favorites have already been listed, but a series that meant a lot to me then and I hope to pass on is C.S. Lewis' _Narnia_ series. The whole series centers around moral choosing. The first 3 have a very strong lead female in Lucy. I think she is 8 in the first book. It's a series of 7 so there is many nights of reading. They are great to read-aloud. Also another great one is _Ramona Quimby, age 8_ by Beverly Cleary. I was reading them on my own when I was 6. Ramona was my big sister.

I think if my mom and dad hadn't spent so much time in books with me I might not have plowed through my dyslexia when I was so young.

Good luck. There are tons of books out there for you and Tadpole to read. Just read with her, character doesn't matter. Time and stories matter.

SOme of these may of been mentioned

Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman, there are 4 or 5 Jillian books, in fact all Gilman stuff is fabulous and all has strong non conventional female leads.

Really Rosie - books (nutshell library), play and musical by Maurice Sendak and Carol King

Anything by Sherre Fitch or Kenin Henekes the Nancy books by Judith Viorst ( they are the girl version of the Alexander books you may of read as a kid.

This might be a helpful link:
http://www.amespubliclibrary.org/kids/BooksforKids.asp

I don't have any suggestions. But I thought I'd say hi.

Hi,
We thought we would add Madeline and Fancy Nancy!
Christina and Kathy

You probably want to get a copy of "Don't Bet on the Prince": the book has stories for various ages, from children's fairy tales, to grown-up explanations of the stories behind the sanitized versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" that we grew up with.

I'm especially fond of the story of the young prince who goes looking for help in wooing a very stubborn, spoiled princess...and happens to meet a clever, kind witch and her bat, Basil.

You may not want to leave the book with your daughter just yet, but having it on your resource shelf will come in handy as the years go by. You could also encourage her to retell some of the 'standard' stories so they end in different ways.

Wow! I was going to suggest the Olivia books and The Princess Knight, too, but about a thousand others beat me to the punch :-)

When your daughter is a few years older, the American Girl series has some pretty good ones.

And I'm really just saying hi too. Welcome back to the blog-world!

Wow...this is an issue that Sandra Lipsitz Bem discusses at length in her book, An Unconventional Family.

For the most part, Bem raised her kids in the 70s and 80s. It is disappointing that the problem of finding few female characters in books for children persists.

Hi Kate!

She may be young for it, but Not One Damsel in Distress by Jane Yolen is all about girl power!

Lety

Jane Yolen has a picture book version of Tam Lin that is gorgeous....

So many comments - I'm coming late for the party -- but for pictures books -
I love Kevin Henkes books -- Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse, and Sheila Rae the Brave would be great -- Sheila Rae is better for a 3 year old, I think. Also Chrysanthemum by the same author (about a little girl called Chrysanthemum). These books are clever, warm-hearted and positive.

Also, books by William Steig, especially Brave Irene, which is only a tiny bit scarey (when the dress blows away).

Oh, yes -- and the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells.

Enjoy!

Looks like you have enough suggestions until she turns 14. So I thought I would say hi.

"Hi!"

I would recommend Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield. It is a cute book, and it has some pictures in. It centers around three girls. One wants to be an actress, the other a ballet dancer and the third my favourite character wants to fly aeroplanes. There is also a movie adaption of the film called Ballet Shoes as well, and it stars Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. Hope that helps.

HI!

and putting another vote in for Paper Bag Princess... one of our personal faves...

and a second vote for when she's older I've always loved the character of Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time.

My daughter is 6 and suddenly loving chapter books and I have to say that 'Ivy and Bean' are very 'kick ass'. :)

Well, I'm going to shamelessly promote my sister here. She's a storyteller and although they aren't books, she has a few recordings out that many kids know by heart.

She's Priscilla Howe; check out her website at
http://www.priscillahowe.com/index.htm. You can listen to a few of the stories by clicking the appropriate sub-page. I particularly like The Gunniwolf.

Glad to see you posting again!

Add me to the crowd recommending anything by Mo Willems, Jan Brett, or Astrid Lindgren. And the Little House on the Prairie books.

Oh! And the Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant. Not girl-power stories, but too steady and wonderful to leave out.

But also and especially, the Franny K. Stein books by Jim Benton. My now 5-yr-old has loved these stories for the last couple of years. I like how Franny's family loves her, even though they don't understand her obsession with being a little girl mad scientist.

We loved The Party by Barbara Reid. It doesn't have girls doing anything heroic, it just has two sisters as the main characters. I read that book out loud so many times that I think I can still recite the whole thing (Me and my sister all dressed up to go. Today is the day of the party. My friends are all playing, we had to say no. Today is the day of the party...)

Can't offer any book suggestions, but wanted to say "hi!"

I forgot to mention Elle Kari by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Elly Jannes which is about a Laplander girl in the early fifties. Definitely worth searching for.

All my suggestions have been mentioned, so I'll just say... Hi!

Oh, hi.

The girl (7) and I second The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke. (And The Thief Lord when she is older).

Others not mentioned:

Vera B. Williams - start with More, More, More Said The Baby and Lucky Song, then move to the stories Cherries and Cherry Pits and the A Chair For My Mother series. End with Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart.

Taro Yashima - Umbrella

Nancy Willard - The Nightgown of the Sullen Moon

Bell Hooks - Homemade Love and Happy to Be Nappy

Norton Juster, Chris Raschka (ill.) - The Hello, Goodbye Window

Molly Bang - When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry

Don Freeman - Corduroy and sequels

Elissa Haden Guest - Iris and Walter first readers

Jerdine Nolen, Kadir Nelson - Thunder Rose

Jane Yolen - The Flying Witch! (An unscary twist on Baba Yaga stories and check out the complilation she edited called Not One Damsel in Distress)

Chris Van Allsburg - Probuditi

Anne Isaacs, Paul Zelinsky (ill.) - Swamp Angel

James Thurber - Many Moons, and later The Thirteen Clocks

Margaret Wise Brown - The Little Fur Family (and any others you can find, there are hundreds of wonderfully obscure ones other than Good Night Moon)

Early read aloud chapter books:

Julia Donaldson - The Giants and the Jones

E. B. White - Charlotte's Web (remember Charlotte is a girl! who even has babies!)

Later chapter books:

Louise Erdrich - the alternate to Little House series that begins with The Birchbark House

Girls to the Rescue series

Mordecai Gerstein - The Old Country (and don't forget The Man Who Walked Between The Towers)

Eleanor Estes - Pinky Pye, The Hundred Dresses, The Alley

Cynthia Voigt - especially the Homecoming series

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockigbird

The girl has enjoyed all of these. Can you tell that she is a girly tomboy with a feminist mother? I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

My favourite book for my daughters is "Yuck: a love story". The girl is a less prominent character, but the story centres around a boy and the lengths he'll go to get her attention, while still proclaiming how yucky she is. She's quiet and smart and I love her.

Don't know about any books but just popping in to say hi. :)

"Olive the Other Reindeer"

It's a holiday story, about a little girl reindeer. Really cute. Nordstroms department store did it as the theme for their holiday decorations a few years ago.

Tadpole is waaaaay too young for this now, but when she gets older, Coraline by Neil Gaiman is really good. I expect the movie is going to be pretty scary (Tim Burton is doing a version to be released into the theaters really soon) but the book is a really good heroine story. I'll leave it to you to figure out what's age-appropriate, as I don't have kids myself :)

Here's a big list of books for toddler girls featuring "brave, strong" girls from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/brave-strong-girls-picture-toddlers/lm/R1UN4DMYBBQ4N

:)

holy shit! 134 comments already! dang.

I really like these books -http://www.jamieleecurtisbooks.com/books.html

IF you can find a copy of Need A House? Call Ms. Mouse. Ms. Mouse designs homes for other animals, sun-loving lizards, otters, cats who love to fish, etc. It's delightful. Last I looked, it's out of print, but it's a great book. I gave away my last copy to a new baby decades ago and I keep hinting to my friends that I'd love to have a copy again, but everyone says that it's one of their now-adult children's faborite books and they couldn't possible part with it.

Dude, I've got nuthin'...but hi!

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon is great and my kids love Ella the Elegant Elephant. I know there are lots - I'll have to check my classroom for titles.

My mom told me that every other time she read "Where the Wild Things Are" to my sisters and me, she would call the protagonist Maxine instead of Max :)

My favorite book when I was little was "Jane and the Dragon" by Martin Baynton. Jane wants to be a knight, not a lady-in-waiting, and has to rescue the prince from a dragon (but the dragon ends up being a nice dragon, so no fear of nightmares!). I think there's even a tv show based on the book out now.

No further advice on the books, just wanted to say it was nice to hear from you blog-wise. I hope you'll feel like blogging again soon. :-)

"Not One Damsel In Distress," by Jane Yolen and Susan Guevara, is all folktales for older kids, but I think easily redacted for smaller ones.

ditto on the jan brett, and you cannot beat the illustrations.
also love olivia
http://www.oliviathepiglet.com/
and angelina ballerina
http://www.angelinaballerina.com/usa/intro.asp?origref=http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-09,GGLG:en&q=angelina+ballerina

One of our story time favorites was The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke. The little princess learns that her father is going to have a joust for her hand in marriage. Late at night, she begins to train secretly as a knight just like her brothers do. With the help of a couple of friends, she wins the joust and gets to decide her fate for herself. Great story and the illustrations are touching.

My son, also 3, loves the Farmyard Tales series from Usborne Books. It is basically just sweet stories about a brother and sister and everyday things that happen on their farm. Sounds a little blah, but they are really sweet stories with nice illustrations. Some small bookstores carry Usborne Books, or I get online.

good on you, mama. i do not have any suggestions due to the twin boys thing, but it looks like plenty out there still read here. maybe i should read them some of the 'sacrificing herself' books, might mellow mine a bit. yeah, right.

I have no suggestions, but hi and good for you.

Is she to big for Woolbur? (I guess Woolbur's a boy... but he's a sheep...)

�a m'a d�j� choqu�e... m�me si je n'ai pas de fille (j'ai eu un deuxi�me gar�on en juin).
Baptiste aime bien les personnages r�currents, mais � part petit ours brun, l�o et popi, tchoupi ?
Baptiste aime bien P�n�lope d'Anne Gutman
http://www.amazon.fr/grand-livre-P%C3%A9n%C3%A9lope-Anne-Gutman/dp/2070620026/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228584784&sr=1-5
il y a d'autres albums, par exemple le cauchemar, o� l'histoire est plus int�ressante.
des m�mes auteurs, pour un peu plus grands, Gaspard et Lisa. Beaucoup d'albums o� Lisa est toute seule, avec des dessins sur Paris
http://www.amazon.fr/maison-Lisa-Anne-Gutman/dp/2012600514/ref=sr_1_85?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228585452&sr=1-85
il y a aussi Camille la girafe de Jacques Duquennoy (c'est une fille, non ?)
http://www.amazon.fr/plus-belles-histoires-Camille/dp/2226180044/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228585111&sr=1-13

I'm sure someone else has mentioned Madlenka by Peter Sis. Madlenka has a loose tooth, and goes around her block telling all of her shopkeeper friends (with fun little bits about the various countries her friends are from).
We're a few years away from having kids, but I found this book and had to buy it.

Wow- I guess people still do read, huh? The books I was going to list have already been listed, so I'll just leave a quick message to say "hi"!

i've got nothing.
but i can say "hi."

I agree with all the recommendations for Pippi Longstocking and others by the same author. The Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome are also wonderful but you will maybe need to wait a couple of years before you can read them to your Tadpole.

Kate, L4 loves the book No Bows:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Bows-Shirley-Smith-Duke/dp/1561453560/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228571094&sr=8-1

It's about a little girl who isn't a "girly-girl" and does her own thing.

And just in case you wouldn't mind a book about a girl knitting, there's Knitting Nell:
http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Nell-Julie-Jersild-Roth/dp/0618540334/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228571388&sr=1-1

Good Luck! I hope Tadpole and L4 will get a chance to play together someday when you're visiting Rochacha.

I just bought Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke and it is fantastic. I can't wait to read it to my nieces. It is about a princess who would rather do chores and sleep with the pigs than be waited on.

German author Cornelia Funke has some books translated into English: The Princess Knight, Pirate Girl and everything Igraine.
And ... Hi!

Here are some that I didn't see when I scanned the other posts:

Night Flight
The Night Pirates (the pirates are "little GIRL pirates!")
books by Jane Yolen
When Sophie Gets Angry (and others by that author)
Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

And when you encounter the same problem in children's movies, check out movies from Studio Ghibli. It's a Japanese animation company, and their movies are awesome and usually have a female main character. We've found that the rating system really works with them -- G rated is really pretty Ok for younger kids, but most of the PG ones aren't Ok for our 5yo. Look for "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service", and "The Cat Returns". "Whisper of the Heart" is just about the most mellow love story I've ever seen (though it has one intense moment), and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" is my daughter's all time favorite princess (though she hasn't seen most of the Disney ones), and it's a great environmental movie too.

Lieve Baeten has great books about a small witch (not scary) with loads of adventures, very empowering (and my 4 year old son has been loving the books for over a year now). Great illustrations. She's Belgian, but we have the German translations, I am just checking whether English and French translations exist. Yes, do exist (Nicky is the witch's name in the English translation), the books are great!!!!

Oh, and Ottfried Preussler's The Little Witch (well yes, I am German) -- even if they say it's from 6 years on, we have started reading it at age 3, and it's such a great book with a wonderful girl hero.

My daughter was always keen on the Charlie and Lola series - while not particularly heroic Lola is a great girl with a lot of character who's very headstrong. (I've also often resorted to changing the gender of characters of some books as I'm reading in order to balance things out a bit)

Yay, long distance readers advisory! I skimmed the comments and see lots of recommendations for different ages and I'll add a couple:

Ladybug Girl by David Soman
The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman
Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke
Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct by Mo Willems
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (this one's a chapter book, and so not the age level you're looking for, but super funny nonetheless)

I think you'll find that a lot of the books for younger readers (esp. at the picture book level) may feature a lot of boys, but as they get older it becomes harder to find good books with male leads. This becomes really apparent when you're looking for books for pre-teen and teen boys that aren't fantasy or sports. Most girls seem more open to reading books with lead characters of either sex.

Also (generally of course) kids of that age love rhythm in books. Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler is one of my favourite books to use in my Books for Babies program. It starts out "Brothers hands tap, sister's hands snap, itty bitty baby's hands clap, clap, clap!"

If you find you don't have enough from everyone's responses drop a line and I'll send more :)

Oh, I forgot: 'Brave Irene' by William Steig. Irene's mom is a seamstress and she gets sick, so Irene delivers a dress in a snow storm. It's a great winter book.

I see someone has already mentioned The Paper Bag Princess, but any of the Robert Munsch books are great. His latest is one about a girl who play hockey.

When Tadpole turns 5 or 6, I recommend reading the Betsy-Tacy books with her. The characters have lots of imagination, and I think are the reason I never thought being an artist would be impossible. Also, the Shoes books by Noel Streatfield are great and feature girls who dislike dancing and theater as often as girls who love that stuff.

For now though, I remember loving 'Princess Smartypants', a book about a princess who didn't want to get married by Babette Cole. She also wrote 'Prince Cinders', in which I think the prince is saved by a dashing princess. 'The Paperbag Princess' by Robert Munsch is also a good one. 'Willy and May' is a great book about a Grandma and her canary. 'Miss Rumphius' is another one about an older lady, if I remember correctly. 'Stellaluna' is about a female bat. And do you have the book 'Brave Charlotte?'
Those are all picture books. I used to teach an art class for 3 year olds and we read a lot of those books. We also read 'Katie Meets the Impressionists' and a lot of other books about the same little girl jumping into famous paintings.
Hope that helps.

Surely you've read Knitting Nell by Julie Jersild Roth? That's a favorite of ours. Also Odd Velvet (we love this one!), The Recess Queen by Alexis O'neill.

My daughter is three, too, and my husband and I always on the lookout for books with strong female characters. (For the time being, we are stering clear of traditional fairy tales, which too often feature damsels-in-distress-who-don't-do-anything-except-wait-for-a-prince.) We also prefer books that have good narratives and don't treat their audience like idiots.

Some of our favorites:
--"Ladybug Girl" (published earlier this year): My daughter likes to shout "Ladybug Girl can do ANYTHING!"
--"Owl Moon," by Jane Yolen
--Pretty much any Jan Brett book (hedgehogs=cool)
--"Caps for Sale" and "Circus Caps for Sale," both by Esphyr Slobodkina

I recommend the Jillian Jiggs series. Jillian is never worried about a tidy room, and leads her friends on imaginative adventures.

Here's a nice little link about empowering little girls: http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/promos/greatbooks/girls/empowering.html

I remember being little and loving:
"The Velveteen Rabbit" (though it had a boy character)
"Blueberries for Sal"
"Molly Whuppie and the Giant" (a little scary...)
"Corduroy the bear"

And later on (some good read-alouds): "Charlotte's web", the "Ramona" series, "The Secret Garden", "Harriet the Spy", "Dealing with Dragons", "Walk to Moons", "Hey World Here I Am!" (anything by Jean Little), anything by Kit Pearson...

Also, this blog looks like a pretty good resource:
http://parentingpink.com/blog/category/great-books-for-girls/

I second the Betsy and Tacy series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. They show two girls with adventurous spirits! I still remember them vividly from my childhood.

Four Valentines in a Rainstorm by Felicia Bond - great watercolor illustration and a kind and thoughtful girl main character (Cornelia Augusta)

and, tied into knitting/creation a bit:
The Lace Snail by Betsy Byars

and, my all time picture book favorite,
What the Wind Told by Betty D. Boegehold, Emanuel Schongut (illustrator)

I also liked the Golden Books, Amelia Bedelia, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and, later on, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler as well as the L'Engle books.

I have to echo Katia, my daughter is 4 and she loves:
anything Charlie & Lola
anything Eloise
anything Olivia
the Knufflebunny books
really anything by Mo Willams
the Madeline books

If your daughter will sit still for a chapter book, we just finished A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden in a chapter a night.
There is also a really REALLY great Mary Poppins book called "Mary Poppins A to Z" by P.L. Travers. It's really neat.

I'm still reading! It was good to see a post from you! :)

Old book (my daughter's 29), but we both still remember it fondly: Just us Women, by Jeannette Caines and illustrated by Pat Cummings. Amazon still has it.

There are so many! All of the Frances books by Lillian Hoban; the "Lily" books by Kevin Henkes, and more by Kevin Henkes (whom I love): Chrysanthemum, Sheila Rae the Brave, etc.

The original Corduroy books (not the yucky updated ones) by Don Freeman are wonderful and feature a very cool little girl. "Knuffle Bunny" and its sequel by Mo Willems are hilarious. The "Olivia" books by Ian Falconer are brilliantly drawn and written and she is quite spirited. There are two longer picture books that I love by Robert McCloskey: "One Morning in Maine" and "Blueberries for Sal," both of which are about girls.

When she's a wee bit older, there's Junie B Jones, Judy Moody, Ivy & Bean, Pippi Longstocking, Charlie & Lola, Clementine, and a host of others. Lots and lots of good girl stories these days, many of which aren't too frilly at all.

Andy's a day younger than Tadpole. He likes Grace for President, Linnea in Monet's Garden, Eloise, Madeline, and Clara Cow Wraps up Warm. A lot of his books have ungendered characters, like Alpha Oops-The Day Z Went First.

What about the Little House in the Prairie series? They feature a strong heroine (Laura Ingalls) making it out on the wild frontier in the early days of the US with her family. I loved that series as a kid.

I also loved a Wrinkle in Time and the series attached to that. Meg Wallace was a great role model too. Very smart and self sufficient. She does the saving. You might have to save that particular book until she's a little older though.

Good luck!

So many great suggestions already. The Red Wolf is a great story about a clever princess. It also involves knitting so you know it's awesome.

New Moon Magazine, and Ladybug and Cricket for later. And Laura Ingalls Wilder-- never too young for selected chapters or parent-abridged summaries. Plus there's knitting, and other craft and cooking projects.

Me again. Saw someone mention Jan Brett. Definitely read "Trouble with Trolls" to Tadpole.

Oh, rereading the comments, I have to agree about the Madeline books. But Robert Munsch? I must be the only person (especially Canadian) who can't believe the fuss made over his stuff. I think it's only Michael Martechenko's pictures that make those stories.

Try "My Name is Not Isabella"! It's great and includes some mommy-love in there too! (I was a women's studies major in college and am a children's librarian now... i have cred :D)

Hey, Kate. Tough call. Are you reading some chapter books, already? For picture books we enjoy the "Stella" books by Marie-Louise Gay, or the Usborne Appletree Farm books (the mother is the farmer), or the Robert McCloskey books about Sal and Jane ("Blueberries for Sal" and "One Morning in Maine"). Ramona books are pretty good...Junie B. Jones is twaddle. (No judgement on her character...I think she's supposed to be a modern version of Ramona, but talk about dumbing down to kids with the writing. Blech.) Mary Poppins chapter books are good when you get to that point in your reading. I second the Pippi Longstocking suggestion, for sure. Also, there are the "Katie and Nan" books by Nan Inger. All our books are still packed, so I'm having trouble thinking of all the ones we've loved. P.S. Hope things aren't too hectic for you...I love the Winter issue of Twist! Jen.

It seems the way to get lots of comments is to ask for book recommendations!

Everyone's said mine already but I'll add Usborne to the list - there are some good ones. Princess Polly & The Pony, offhand, but there are others. You can view the catalogue at usborne.ca.

Nice to see you again.

Hi Kate!

Try The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, Harriet the Spy, the Ramona books, and all of the Olivia books. You won't be sorry!

Just saying hi, as it seems you have plenty of suggestions!

(And gosh, I can't really think of any, even with a 6-yr.-old girl of my own. We've been devouring the Harry Potter series, but I recommend waiting just a bit!)

How about Jenny Linsky stories? The main character is a little girl cat, they were written in the 40s or so and Jenny has adventures and acts of bravery. there is one that I think is called jenny goes to sea.

How about Fancy Nancy? She's very girly and always wants to be fancy and tries to convince her family to be fancy, too. Amelia Bedelia is also fun. I always remember when she called an actual roll in school instead of "calling roll." I even read Alice in Wonderland to my older daughter when she was 2 1/2 or 3.

'Charlie and Lola' and 'Clarice Bean' by Lauren Child are just brilliant for this age; My daughter mainly reads Charlie and Lola and now knows them by heart probably (she is 5) I am not sure if you cant get it in Canada, but maybe Amazon would have it.
There is also ‘The My Naughty Little Sister Series’ by Dorothy Edwards.

'Charlie and Lola' and 'Clarice Bean' by Lauren Child are just brilliant for this age; My daughter mainly reads Charlie and Lola and now knows them by heart probably (she is 5) I am not sure if you cant get it in Canada, but maybe Amazon would have it.
There is also ‘The My Naughty Little Sister Series’ by Dorothy Edwards.

The "Dealing with Dragons" series by Patricia Wrede. Fantastic books, and I've bought them for all of my nieces.

My favorite books at that age were Golden Books. Especially "We Help Daddy". Favorite books featuring girl characters, I have to agree with Leah on Pippi Longstocking. Amelia Bedilia was also very popular during story time.

and to add even more to my original post there is always the amelia bloomer list http://libr.org/ftf/bloomer.html

You're back! So glad to see you back on the blog. Looks like you've already received lots of good suggestions above. Good luck in your quest.

I know you're in Canada, and Tadpole's part French, but the American Girl series is great as a read-aloud now and for independent reading later. I also vote for Frances and Junie B. Jones!

And welcome back to your blog! I check in once or twice a week, and I've missed hearing what you've been up to, even though I know it's mostly your AWESOME work with Twist Collective...

The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardham St by Jeanne Birdsall are excellent (as are the pippi and ramona books--LOVE them). The Betsy books by Carolyn Hayward, Eloise by Kay Thompson, the Betsy Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace are terrific. I have more suggestions if you need them! Enjoy.

Hmmm. Paper Bag Princess is the first that comes to mind. HEre is a list I found:
http://chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/txp/index.php?id=92
And another: http://www.sclibrary.ab.ca/kids/bklists/yougo.htm
And this: http://www.amazon.com/brave-strong-girls-picture-preschoolers/lm/RP3NG5FPOADM4
And this is a list of lists: http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/strongfemales/a/strongfemales.htm
Whew!

That book (In the Night Kitchen) was my daughter's favorite, too. I wish I could remember others she liked at the same age. Where the Wild Things Are (Max is a boy). She is and was a "girly girl", fond of pink and ballet and My Little Pony. But none of that was reflected in her choices in literature until she was much older. Even then, those choices - Little House, and then Anne of Green Gables and finally Jane Austen reflected strong, confident girls and women. Also frivolous and silly women! For contrast, of course.
But for the littles: I think if the story is good and the illustrations draw the reader in, the gender of the main characters isn't relevant until later.
Harold and the Purple Crayon was favored. Later, Little Bear books and Frog and Toad as early readers. How about Bread and Jam for Frances? Harry the Dirty Dog? Caps for Sale? Books that play with language and are fun to read over and over again. Folk tales: Little Red Hen and the Gingerbread Man.
Books with strong graphic content: anything by Denise Fleming, or Lois Ehlert or Donald Crews.
Disclaimer: my big girl is now in her mid-20's and mother of two babies. She's the oldest of 5, and her "baby" brother is now 14. So maybe my choices are dated - but the richest stories stand the test of time. (Second disclaimer: I'm a teacher who was out of the classroom when "fad" literature entered the scene, so I am super-picky. It's rare to find a new book that I really love!)

Hi!

I don't have much input for the storybooks since my son is 12 weeks old, but I do congratulate you for looking for stories that don't portray girls as wimps!

We usually read gender neutral stories like 'barnyard dance' and such, but there is a definite age gap between our children. lol.

We love 'The Paper Bag Princess', and 'Olivia' (although it's about a pig, it's a female pig!), and 'Handa's Hen' (a counting book with a story.) Hope this helps a little :)

Hi Kate!

Pippi Longstocking! Amazon has these books rated for 9 to 12 year olds but my mother read them to me when I was very young and I LOVED them. The author, Astrid Lindgren wrote other books with strong, sassy little girls in them too.

Glad to see you back, however briefly!

Hi!

I'm sorry you're having trouble finding books for your daughter. Isn't that a weird trend? I'm childless and the last kid book I read was Make Way For Ducklings, so I've got no ideas for you, but I wish you luck on finding books that will show strong smart female characters.

Have you tried the Olivia books? We also really liked Odd Velvet. And Lily in the Kevin Henkes books is quite her own character; she even teaches the boys a couple of things in "Chester's Way". Wow, I guess I miss reading picture books...

I like a lot of the recommendations in Kathleen Odean's "Great Books for Girls". She includes a picture book section with nice plot summaries for each book. My daughter particularly loves "The Princess Knight" by Cornelia Funke and "Beast" by Susan Meddaugh.

You can start here (I hope the html works, otherwise, you'll have to extract the link. I'll ask around, I have a couple of friends who are educators.

try pippi longstocking by astrid lindgren. swedish childrens books about the strongest girl in the world. the original swedish films are great as well.
/sophie

Welcome back! I guess you've already done Pippi Longstocking, right? I'll wrack my brains for something else but it's been a long time since I ransacked the kids' book section.

Rush over to Amazon and look for "Girls to the Rescue". There are 7 books in the series, mostly rewritten fairy tales. Here's what the review says:
"In most fairy tales, the helpless girl waits around for a prince to rescue her. But the girls featured in the Girls to the Rescue series' seven books are not only smart, they're also spunky enough to save the day when the going gets tough."

My girls (and my Girl Scouts) loved these stories!

I love "The Gardener" by Sarah Stewart and David Small as well as "One Grain of Rice" by Demi (I'm a sucker for pretty pictures). The first one is better for younger kids. And . . . hi!

No ideas on the books..... but I do still read the blog. It's on RSS feed here and lets me know every time you update anything.

Just wanted to say hi!!

you could try some of the Max and Ruby books. They're by Rosemary Wells and simply delightful.

I found this site that lists children's books with female central characters: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/misc-kids/books/female-chars/ The top ones are picture books, which seems just right. I am way behind on my children's literature, I'm just now realizing! I am going to say hi too though - I miss your blogging, but I'm happy that you're working on something as wonderful as the Twist Collective. I hope you're able to rejoin the blogosphere sometime again in the future!

my absolutely favorite book when i was 4 or 5 was "amanda pig and her big brother oliver" http://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Brother-Oliver-Easy-Read/dp/0140370080
apparently it is a series. though i don't remember that. i remember reading it over and over and getting in trouble for racking up library fines! :-)

obviously there is ramona, eloise, olivia, pippy longstockings and charlotte's web. i have heard dealing with dragons is good. i think it is about a princess who decides to work with dragons instead of being a princess (i think the paper bag priness has the same feel). and chester's way.

Have you read any of Marie-Louise Gay's books? Midnight Mimi was my oldest favourite book ever, and she had it all memorized (quite the feat!) before she could read. I don't consider it very scary, but it's definitely a midnight adventure. And there's also her book Angela and the Polar Bear. It's funny.

How about The Paper Bag Princess?

Hi. I have a 7 year old girl. I will go home tonight and look on her shelf and ask her about books this weekend. Off the top of my head, nothing is coming to mind, but I know we've read good strong girl books. Strega Nona is fun, not girls so much but women are strong in in it. Have you looked at the Jan Brett books? the characters are often animals as well as children, but as I recall the girls aren't "girly" per se. And the illustrations are magical.

Hi!

Now book solutions! I have always loved the books by Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends, etc.). As a child, I loved all the Ramona books though Tadpole might be too young for those. I also loved the Little Monster books and all the Frances books.

You can do a search on Amazon for appropriate age group and then do a further search to girls & women -- http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1228510358/ref=sr_nr_n_6?ie=UTF8&rs=3020&bbn=3068&rnid=3020&rh=n%3A4%2Cn%3A3020%2Cp%5Fn%5Fage%5Frange%3A673421011%2Cn%3A3068

I like anything by Faith Ringhold. Tar Beach is my favorite:

http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/books.htm

Hi Kate,

I'm the Mom of two girls - aged 5 & 9. One of our all time faves is How To Make an Apple Pie. A girl is out of the ingredients, so she goes around the world and has an adventure gathering 'em up. Also fun is the recipe in the back - for an added activity.

Another fun fun fun thing is the Book/CD set you may or may not know - Free to Be You and Me. A ton of stories and songs from the 70s - all about strong women, moms being equal to dads and girls having all the opportunities they'd ever want. Of course, set into fun song and story - narrated by Alan Alda, Marlo Thomas and others. I've never known anyone not to love it -

Hope either of those bring you and your girl some joy - I know your patterns have definitely brought me some! Thanks, Thea

I am not sure if she is ready for chapter books, but we love The Magic Tree House series. It is about a sister and brother who have adventures. We also like the Fairy Realm series as well, they are about Jessie who is the grand daughter of Queen Jessica and she has to save the Fairy Realm from all sorts of trouble.

Paper bag princess...

Here's a good list:
http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/good_reads.jsp?parent_id=217&page_id=225
Also... Olivia books are pretty great. And you could check out lookybook.com. It's a website that has tons of scans of picture books, so you can preview them and see if you like the story and pictures before you check them out of buy them. You have to be a member, but it's free. :)
If I come up with some more, I'll post them, but I'm at work and all my picture books are at home.

Charlie and Lola. Clarice Bean. Ramona the Pest (Beverly Cleary) when she's 5ish. Philip Pullman when she's older still. I'll keep thinking.

Hi Kate!

Paper Bag Princess is the first thing that comes to mind. She's probably not old enough for Anne of Green Gables or even Harriet the Spy. But what about some of the Beverly Cleary Ramona books? I'll give it a think.

Hi! I don't recall when your blog was added to my blog reader, but hey, it was at some point so I saw your post. Hooray for reading to little girls and good luck finding lots of great girl books. They're out there!

Have you read about Lily of Lily's Purple Plastic Purse? I(mis)quote, "I am Lily, and I love everything!" The author, Kevin Henkes, also writes Sheila Rae the Brave, and other books that feature fun female characters.

And I love love love Katy and the Big Snow because the main character is a big old strong tractor who saves the day, and that tractor is FEMALE. It's got fantastic read-aloud rhythm.

There's Blueberries for Sal. It's a sweet little benign book that's just totally loveable.

Owl Moon features a daddy and his daughter going out into the woods at night to look at Owls.

There's the Paper Bag Princess, which is almost an overdone attempt at making a "strong female lead" but while the heavy handedness might bug me, little girls still love it.

The King's Equal is a longer book, almost a novelette, which is a beautiful story you'd want to have around, even if your daughter isn't quite ready for it yet.

My little girl is 10 now, and I admit I visited some lists to remind me of some of my favourites. Here are the lists I visited, which have even more great titles.

http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/good_reads.jsp?parent_id=217&page_id=225

http://chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/txp/index.php?id=92

http://www.wnba-books.org/anniversaries/80women.html

Happy reading! And knitting :)

Hey, Glad you are still around. Sorry I don't have any good books to pass on to you. Although would be nice to see what comes of your quest... As I know I want to give my brand new baby girl a well rounded opinion of herself too... not just the self sacraficing, fluff, pink stuff!

ttfn

can you preview at the library?

two popped into my head:
http://www.amazon.com/Brave-Irene-Sunburst-Books-William/dp/0374409277
http://www.amazon.com/Lillys-Purple-Plastic-Purse-Henkes/dp/0688128971

first might be scary (not to mine); second: Lilly's definitely not submissive and appears in some of his other books--in this one she misbehaves and feels bad, so it might not fit the bill.

Try www.weheartbooks.com - its a great blog about children's books. I'm not sure how old your daughter is but its worth a try.

What about the Paper Bag Princess? It's one that we've grown to love.

Charlie and Lola? My (now 4) year old loves them.

Hi, I have some ideas for books...
What about Madeline books - by John Marciano? She was always doing something. Robert Munsch is also awesome and there are some adventurous ones - like Angela's Airplane, The Paperbag Princess, Pigs... I haven't met a Munsch book I didn't like, even now I love them all. And I remember my niece loving a book called Red is Best - and the protagonist was a girl. I don't remember how old Lucy was when she liked the book though. Hope these ideas help.

Hi! I do the same thing, changing the boys to girls, particularly with animal characters, for my 2.5 year old girl.

We've been reading a lot of Madeline, she's pretty spunky. The Kevin Henkes girl mice are great- Sheila Rae the Brave, Lilly, Chrysanthemum. One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal (Robert McCloskey) are also faves. The Gruffalo's Child is good too, and she's definitely a girl Gruffalo. I'd love to see what else people suggest, as the dearth of girl characters is making me long for when we can start reading chapter books at night.

A friend just recommended a bunch in the "kick ass princess" genre, but I'm trying to avoid princess thing as long as possible!

Hi, I have some ideas for books...
What about Madeline books - by John Marciano? She was always doing something. Robert Munsch is also awesome and there are some adventurous ones - like Angela's Airplane, The Paperbag Princess, Pigs... I haven't met a Munsch book I didn't like, even now I love them all. And I remember my niece loving a book called Red is Best - and the protagonist was a girl. I don't remember how old Lucy was when she liked the book though. Hope these ideas help.

my daughter is also 3 and also love story books! I'll be watching here for suggestions. :) are we talking only human girls or animal girls too? we recently got a book from the library about a chicken named louise who goes on a bunch of adventures and my daughter loved it! does that count as an adventurous girl story? :) here it is on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Louise-Adventures-Chicken-Kate-Dicamillo/dp/0060755547/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

dude. pipi longstocking.
also, lotta stories by astrid lindgren.
also, but i haven't actually read it yet, but we do have it and it looks like an adventure book featuring a little girl: that rabbit belongs to emily brown by cressida cowell and neal layton.
also, charlie and lola. they are awsome.
the knufflebunny books by mo williams. and, actually, the pig in the piggy and elephant stories by mo williams is a girl. love 'em, but maybe not story enough. awsome, though.
olivia the pig! somewhat annoyng, but a feisty girl. oh, and madeline. haven't read it yet, but am told it's great. not eloise, though, who i'm told is a brat.
oh, and HI!

Hmmm. I'm trying to think. My Little Peep is that same age, but she is more into books about animals. "Pinkaliscious" is cute, but still a little fluffy. Jan Brett has some really cool books and some of them have girls as the main character, like "Wild Christmas Reindeer" and "Who's That Knocking," I believe. Usborne's Apple Tree Farm books have a girl who has farm adventures with her little brother. "Many Moons" by James Thurber is a cool story about a princess.

PS: what i love about most of these books are that they are all (or almost) from Cdn authors and illustrated by some Quebeckers as well...
S

Just "hi"... you're still on my feed!

I'll work on the book thing...

K
I am part of Corus - who owns Kids Can Press - and some of my fellow workers in Toronto - working on Treehouse may have some good recommendations. I am waiting for one to come back to me with answers - but in the meantime you could check the web site www.kidscanpress.com/canada
Seems there is quite a lot - and a search filter can be added to narrow your choice on Theme and genre..

Here are a couple suggestions. These books might be a little old for your daughter yet, but they are wonderful:

Madlenka by Peter Sis (there's a lot going on in these books visually) - a little girl has a loose tooth and wants to tell her multi-culti neighbors.

Blueberries for Sal by Robery McCloskey

Of course, there's Madeline & Eloise

Two books featuring plucky girls who know their own mind are:

Bread and Jam for Frances (really, anything with Frances) by Lillian Hoban. Frances the badger goes on a food strike and Mom goes along with it.

Lily's Purple Plastic Purse -- Lily's a mouse with some new stuff she wants to show her class.

I hope this helps. I have a daughter too.

Fancy Nancy! there are three of them now in the series, but Nancy follows her own muse (and it involves a lot of pink and sparkly things.) I was a tomboy, but my girly-girl loves it (shes 5) and even her brother loves it (hes 8.)

Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Bonjour, Butterfly

OH! and try Princesses are Not Quitters (lot of text for a 3 year old though)

The Dog Who Wanted to Be a Wolf

Olivia (though she is a pig, but a girl!)

I too have a 3 y.o. girl. Our favourites are:

anything Charlie & Lola
anything Stella (Mary-Louise Gay)
anything Eloise
anything Olivia
the Knufflebunny books
the Madeline books

... will probably think of more later. Will not mention that my 3 y.o. also loves Fancy Nancy. sigh.

I had two boys, but I still tried to find a few gender neutral books for them. One that came to mind is the Bernstein Bears "He Bear, She Bear" that talks about whether you are a "he bear or she bear" you can still be anything you want to be (when you grow up)and it then goes through a lot of different career/vocational options. May be a bit of a stretch for a 3 year old.

Also great are the Harriet the Explorer books.

Paperbag princess?

Hmm. I have one thought, but unfortunately the book seems to be out of print. Here is an amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/CLOTILDA-Jack-Kent-Selected-Editions/dp/B0015XROE6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228506152&sr=8-13
but if you just search for "clotilda" then there are editions that are more like $3 than $20. But I wanted to send the link that shows the cover.

This was one of my favorite books when i was about 3. It has a sort of un-fairy godmother.

I don't think I can recall any other books that would do it, not for a three year old. I hope others have some good suggestions. I also wanted to indicate that, yes, people are still out here reading. "Hi."

Have you looked at the books about Amelia Bedelia, or Pippi Longstocking?

Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale
and Knuffle Bunny: a Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems are good.
The Olivia books by Ian Falconer are pretty popular and I always loved the Berenstain Bears series too.

The Paper Bag Princess is a cute twist on the typical fairytale. The princess rescuses the prince from a dragon. I don't know how the dragon would go over with your little one, but its not too scary IMO.

Hi:)

I don't have kids, but a friend of mine has the very same problem. She's found a few books that don't stereotype boys and girls, but they are but rare.

It seems to me like she is using a number of strategies. One strategy is to pass over sentences, or to make up (read invent) someting else as they read along. She has also started to read what she calls "horse books"(girls who likes horses, and spend all their time in the stable with the horses and their friends. the absence of boys in these books give the girls far more space. while it's not a great solution, as it also can be interpretated as girls only having space in the absence of boys/men, it's a starting point at least).

But why not talk to your local library about it? mabybe they will know a few auhtors that are less offensive, as they seem to be a few of them. and maybe they will notice that some parents find this being a problem, hopefully leading them to think about these aspects when they buy new childrens books:)

Good luck in finding books that can provide you with better role models for your daughter. I really hope you find some good books to read!

Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke (Author), Kerstin Meyer (Illustrator) --about a girl kidnapped by pirates, but then saved by her pirate mom. Pirates aren't too scary, but I think you can look at pictures on amazon?

The Night Pirates (Book & CD) (Paperback)
by Peter Harris (Author), Deborah Allwright (Illustrator) --the main character is a boy, but he is recruited by a band of girl pirates who are treasure hunting, and I think they're the main draw.
(can you tell a theme with those two? I was looking for one and found the other. I think the second might be the better book).

Also I always loved the Frances books, by Russell Hoban (Author), Lillian Hoban (Illustrator). I think Frances is a badger, and she sings little songs. Some of the books are Bread and Jam for Frances, Bedtime for Frances, etc.

Sorry, I can't help you. My grandchildren are older than your daughter. However, good luck!

I still have you in my "Google Reader". Welcome back!

There are a couple by Kevin Henkes that are great and have girl characters. Lily's Purple Plastic Purse and Chrysanthemum were two of Hannah's favorites when she was little. I can get you more recommendations from the children's librarian at my library if you'd like.

oooo i've never thought of this dilemma but one of my favorite childhood books are

any of the William Joyce books, not only are the illustrations BEAUTIFUL but the stories are heartfelt and so magical and seeing as its 19 days till christmas the best one is santa calls
one of my favorite christmas time stories
and another book is umm lets see
of course madaline and all her adventures another one of my favorites as a child
Ms. Rumphius by Barbera Coony. That is the most amazing book ever and even to this day I still enjoy it to this day as a 17 year old
and also any book by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas just google her
all her books were my moms favorite to read to me so I hope that helps good luck!!

How about The Paper Bag Princess? Or, in French, Une Charlotte au chocolat - I haven't yet read it, but that's what I'm getting for Christmas for my 5-year-old nephew who loves to cook. It may be a tad old for your own Charlotte; it's in a collection that the publisher describes as being for pre-schoolers and children of primary school age, but I don't know for sure about that specific book. I will have it in my hands tomorrow, if you want me to tell you more about it, I can do so then.

Hello Kate! :)

For a story with a girl-hero who stands gender stereotypes on their heads, I would recommend The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N Munsch. There is a dragon, but I don't recall him being scary.

i have 2 girls (7 and 4), and we often encounter the same problem. here are a couple my girls have loved (and still do!) and if i think of some more, i will send them along too!

stand tall molly lou melon by patty lovell
le petite rouge: a cajun red riding hood by mike artell (SUPER fun to read out loud!)
we've also read the first 3 or 4 "little house" books, and they've enjoyed them)

A little too young for this, but Anne of Green Gables fits the bill for when she gets older. My young tomboy loves it.

I will check out my daughters library and see what is in there. I know that my SIL sends some great books.

Now you mention it, it's true, a lot of times it's the boys that are the heros of those stories. I have good ones with boys and girls(although the girl is always following her big brother), but they are all in German...
So, I'll just say: Hi!

Oh goodness - you know, you're right. There are a lot of fluffy, pink girl books out there.

I don't have a storybook suggestion for you, but I do recall that the little girls I used to babysit LOVED Shel Silverstein's poems - despite the lack of a picture on every page. You can skip the scary poems (about pirates)... and just read the silly ones.

She's certainly too young for Matilda by Roald Dahl, unfortunately, and I'm sure that one has occurred to you already.

I miss your posts. I always wanted to know what happened to that sweater you started from yarn from la Droguerie... white with pink and yellow splashes.

Off the top of my head: Violet the Pilot (given to my 3 y/o by his Grandma; it's a new release and such a positive book), any of the Ramona series (may want to hold for a year or two), Frances the Badger.

It's funny that I've been thinking about making certain that my son sees positive strong females in books, too.

I'll post a few more when I get home; I don't have my book list at work.

We just received The Paper Bag Princess, which is great (in the end she tells the prince to get lost) and Dirty Joe The Pirate, which is actually about his big sister pirate who gets the better of him. And I looooove the Frances books by the Hobsons - read them when I was little. My Isobel is four, and baby Penelope will grow up all too soon, so I'm concerned about good books for girls, too. I even change gender on half of the dinosaurs in the How Do Dinosaurs... books to female. Why they're all "he" in the first place is beyond me. Keep up the good fight for empowering girl books!

My FAVORITE book is the Ordinary Princess, by MM Kate. It's about the seven daughter of a king who's a seventh son and her fairy godmothers give her the gift of being ordinary. It's wonderful!

Outside, Over There is good, as is Pippi Longstocking, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Ramona. Most are chapter books, but you could always read to her! My mom was a children's librarian...

well, I'll say Hi :-) But I don't have any suggestions. I have a boy and he loves Thomas the Tank engine and Spongebob. Sorry!

Ugh, I'm no help, as my cousin (who is a girl) is into Fancy Nancy and Hannah Montana. What about the Madeline books?

I don't know if these girls are particularly heroic, but my kids like to hear these stories:
Blueberries for Sal and One Morning in Maine by Robert McClosky
The Frances books (Bread and Jam, Bedtime for, Sister for, etc.) by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban
The Paper Bag Princess by by Robert N. Munsch
Olivia by Ian Falconer

Paperbag Princess - Robert Munsch

Jane Yolen is a great children's author. My favourite of hers is "Dove Isabeau." It's out of print, but you may be able to find it at the library. It's a longer storybook, but I've read it to kids from 3 - 8 and they all love it. There is a dragon in it and suspense, but I don't think it's TOO scary. It's also the reason I now love red.

She is probably a little young for these right now, but in a year or two this series will be perfect - "Junie B. Jones" by Barbara Park. Grep series with a strong heroine who has hillarious, age appropriate adventures.

http://www.amazon.com/Junie-Joness-First-Boxed-Books/dp/0375813616

Have you tried the original Raggedy Ann books? They may be pushing things a bit for a three year old because they're chapter books with lots of pictures as opposed to picture books, but in those Raggedy is pretty darn adventurous.

I don't remember the exact titles or authors, but when my daughter was in the picture book phase I found some good picture books loosely based on Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, etc. Look up tall tales in your library and you'll probably turn up some good ones with girls as the main characters.

There is a good list here. Most are for older girls but there are a few for the little ones. http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/promos/greatbooks/booklist.html
Don't miss Eloise. She was a favorite at our house when my now 20 year old daughter was little.

Well I don't know about books for a three year old but once she gets older I would recommend the Little House on the Prairie books (especially the first one, Little House in the Big Woods), Pippi Longstocking, Amelia Bedelia, and the Nancy Drew books...those are what got me through my early reading years. Good Luck.

Hi!!
I've collected a few childrens' books over time and have several that might work for you. I'll get back to you when I get home and can look at my bookshelf.

A friend's daughter loves the Junie B. Jones boks.

Also for when she is a bit older, Edward Eager's books (Half Magic, Seven Day Magic, Knight's Castle) all feature girls and boys who are equally adventurous and differ in personality, not gender stereotypes. Especially awesome as they were written in the 50s.

Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, Frances books by Russell Hoban (Bread and Jam for Frances and A Bargain for Frances are my faves), Elizabeth Leads the Way by Tanya Lee Stone, Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffmann...
Here's a good Amazon list:
http://www.amazon.com/brave-strong-girls-picture-preschoolers/lm/RP3NG5FPOADM4

Hi,
My daughter is three and both a tomboy and a girly-girl. The type that likes to play in the mud while wearing a tutu. She loves the Backyardigan books, both the short learn to read variety, and longer story books. The girls in the books model a variety occupations and social positions. One tends to be more of a tomboy (the pink one), and one more girly (the yellow one).

They might be a bit boring if your kids watch the TV show, mine rarely do.

Lady Bug Girl is also a cute book about a tom boy type girl, but my daughter found the story boring.

We have also had good luck with animal characters that don't model an obvious gender, like old fashioned curious George.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut by Margaret Atwood are both good ones.

Ha - I have a boy and the opposite problem, so I think I can help!

girl picture books:
Blueberries for Sal
all the Frances books (my fave is Bread & Jam for Frances)
Higgledy Piggledy Pop by Maurice Sendak
the Pinkerton books are about a little girl with a boy dog

No gender specified:
Each Peach pear Plum
Millions of Cats

Those were all favorites of mine when I was little. Also, I was her age when my mom started reading the Little House books to me, and a little later the Oz books and Narnia books. All girls (though the Narnia girls do tend to defer to the boys)!

One of my favourite books with a girl is "The Good Master" by Kate Seredy. It's set on a farm in Hungary, and the story starts out with the city girl being spoiled and lots of trouble, but she turns around with the help of her cousin (a boy). You could also try "The Secret Garden" which has a similar story line. These are both longer books though, so Tadpole might be a little young for them yet.

Hi! Off the top of my head:

"The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch

The "Frances" books by Russell Hoban ("Bedtime for Frances" "Bread and Jam for Frances", etc.)

"Lily's Purple Plastic Purse" by Kevin Henkes

"Sheila Rae the Brave" by Kevin Henkes

"Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes (o.k., I love everything by Kevin Henkes)

"Tillie and the Wall" by Leo Leoni

"Altoona Baboona" by Janie Bynum

"Angelina Ballerina" by Katherine Hollabird (also a series)

"Stellaluna" by Jannell Cannon

the "Olivia" books by Ian Falconer

If I think of others, I'll add on.

Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny 2 are great books by Mo Willems that have a little girl as the main character. My 11 month old son loves them (probably just loves the pictures). The pigeon books are great too and completely gender neutral. Start with Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Great stuff!

Is she too young for Pippi Longstocking? Also by the same author that I liked even better "The Children of Noisy Village"

Well, I came across the two darlingest children's books when I visited London recently. One is Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell's "Something Else" (who is also the main character - and neither girl nor boy, but just that, *something else*, the other is "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" by Judith Kerr (which may even be a classic but is new to me. And it's funny and cute. And it has a tiger in it.)

Don't know if that helped...

Love,

Viv

The Paperbag Princess

I think A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle features a pretty strong female character, Meg Murry. It was my favorite book growing up.

Get a Chinaberry catalog.
http://www.chinaberry.com/ It's the wordiest, best book catalog for kids! They will have lots of ideas for you.

Favorites from my daughters (they are now 16 and 18!)

Elizabeth Jane gets Dressed
http://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Jane-Gets-Dressed-Tyrrell/dp/0812057759

The Paper Bag Princess
http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bag-Princess-Classic-Munsch/dp/0920236162

Cinder Edna
http://www.amazon.com/Cinder-Edna-Ellen-Jackson/dp/0688162959

The Magic House
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-House-Robyn-Harbert-Eversole/dp/0531059243/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228502084&sr=8-12

The Barefoot Book of Princesses (but my DD figured out that many stories were simply reversals, and that inspired a great conversation)

The Widow's Broom
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Widows-Broom/Chris-Van-Allsburg/e/9780395640517

Once she's ready for simple chapter books read to her (sometime between 5-8), go for the Dolphin Diaries (a girl and her family sail around the world studying dolphins...wonderful stories!)

Go rss, otherwise I would never know when people post!

Have you got "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch? Always been one of my favorites. http://www.amazon.ca/Paper-Bag-Princess-Robert-Munsch/dp/0920236162

I'll be coming back here to see what other people suggest because my daughter just turned 2.

You may find this site helpul: http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/strongfemales/a/strongfemales.htm

Hi! I'm still reading :)
just thought I'd let you know.

can't think of any good girl books for three year olds (aside from the paperbag princess, of course, which is essential ;) ) - will think on it and let you know if anything comes to mind.
cheers - KTE

Hi! You're still in my feed reader...
I gave my niece Knitting Nell by Julie Jersild Roth when she was three and a half. Very cute picture book, not princess related at all and it has a nice message about helping others. Although I suppose knitting might be stereotypically girly :)

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes

Katy and the Big Snow by Virgina Lee Burton (not technically a girl...)

I Like Me by Nancy Carlson

My little girl is 20 now, so some of our favorites are pretty old! Good luck!

I have two girls - 6 and 2 1/2 - and we have a similar problem. However, there are really good options out there. (and it does get easier as they get older!)

My girls love books by Susan Lowell, who does Wild West type versions of classic fairy tales in which the girls have real 'gumption.' Dusty Locks and Cindy Ellen are favorites. Also, I know Fancy Nancy is very girley, but she has also really encouraged my girls to express their creativity and to be themselves. (and this is from a mom who was horrified when her little girls turned out to be extreemly feminine girls who love all things pink and froofy!)

You should also look at Kathleen Ragan's collection, 'Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World.' It's one of the best collections I've ever seen for girls - although you're probably a few years away from it yet.

Hi. One of my favorite books is "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" by Avi. In it Charlotte, has an adventure crossing from England to America in a ship. I think this book is at a fourth grade reading level. Everyone I give this book to likes it-boys included.

Hm. There are the Junie B. Jones books, but they might be a little bit too advanced for a 3 year old. Best thing is to call or go to the library. Librarians have access to ALL KINDS of reading lists for all age levels.

Oh, almost forgot. The Carl books by Alexandra Day are about the adventures of a little girl and her dog. Almost no words, but the pictures are fantastic!

Olivia? She's a pig, but she's smart and funny, although she doesn't really go on adventures. She does like her girly stuff, but there's no sacrificing what she likes for others.

I always liked Bread and Jam for Frances: http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Jam-Frances-Read-Book/dp/0060838000/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228500593&sr=8-1

It's a totally valiant quest you are on - Good luck!

You should call the Fairport Library and talk to the children's librarian - she is awesome. I've heard the one at the Webster Library is good too. I bet they'd have some for you. I suppose she's too young for Ramona huh? I love Ramona.
xo