Title

Date Published

Evidence of Traditional Gender Roles

(patriarchal, sexist, good girl/bad girl) male
programing)

Positives (breaking
stereotypes etc.)

Other Notes

The VERY SMART PEA

and the PRINCESS-TO-BE,
By Mini Grey

2003 Queen's attitude on marriage is based on ideas of At first the book was making recipes in
traditional gender roles, she insists on having the it sound like only certain girls illustrations, using
Prince get married no matter what
could be princesses, but they point of view from
broke that ideal by having the the pea as a
gardener be the princess,
unique storytelling
which was really neat. I sort tool
of liked the naivety of the
prince, having a hard time
finding a mate. I think
sometimes female characters
are portrayed having a
difficult time finding
someone.

Princess Fishtail, By
Frances Minters

2002 Mermaid has to change herself to obtain the love I like that in the end she is
of the surfer (feminity), referencing to be a "kings able to solve her problems
daughter" you have to have good hair,
without giving up her voice,
but she isn't able to do that
without the help of her
boyfriend.

I just can't see

ever using this
book. There is too
much happening
on each page, and
I found the
rhyming scheme
distracting from
the actual
meaning of the
text.

The Princess Knight, By

Kerstin Meyer

2001 In the beginning of the book the King's

Raises daughter no different I really enjoyed
attitude/son's roles exhibit male programming, the than sons breaks gender
this. I like that
King begins saying "he brought them up just as stereotypes by allowing her every negative has
his father had brought him up "and traditional
to become a knight. When
a action in return
gender roles i.e. "they learned how to give orders, brothers tease her that she that is positive.
to their nursemaids, their servants". King holds
isn't strong enough, the book Like the princess
contest for her marriage, she isn't allowed to
counters it by saying "Not as teaching that girls
choose, thinks it isn't her role.
strong, maybe, but you are can be just as
three times as clever".
good as boys at
Princess proves her father
things, and choose
wrong by winning her own
their own
hand in marriage through her marriage.
skills as a knight. This proved
that both sexes can be good
at all things, and that women
should be able to decide their
own futures. Later the
princess marries the rose
gardener's son, by her
choice. I really like that this .
This also breaks the stereo
type that Princesses have to
marry some tough guy.

Clever Jack Takes the

Cake, By Candace Fleming

2010 The only thing, so far in the beginning, that

stereotypes the story is that a Princess deserves
fine things for her Birthday. I thought this played in
with stereotyping the Princess role, with sort of
that good girl role, and everyone going along with
it. But, I guess on the flip side I am not sure if I am
analyzing that too much. I mean, everyone likes
nice things for their birthday.

This book is so cool breaking So many good

the gender stereotypes of
comments for this
what males are expected to book. First of all I
do normally. In this book
loved the "Jack
Jack bakes this beautiful
and the Beanstalk"
cake for the Princess. I think twist to this. I like
the princess role is
that it was
redeemed when she
partnered with a
appreciates the gift of a story Princess tale, and
over the finery she receives. I that Jack was
think it is great too that this seen to be clever
shows a male role doing
during the whole
something other than just
story, vs. in the
rescuing.
real version he is
seen foolish for
most. I think this
would be a great
tool to use in the
classroom to
share the value of
storytelling. One of
my other favorite
parts of this book
were the fabulous
illustrations.

Chickenrella, By Mary
Jane and Herm Auch

2005 Until the end this is a more traditional version of

Cinderella, except with chickens. In regards to the
stepmother and sisters you can completely see
how women play a huge part in these
stereotypical judgments we have on how the
female sex is "supposed" to be. It is shown, out of
jealousy, in the book that they judge Chickenrella
for what she is wearing, what she does etc.
Chickenrella is in patriarchal roles involving
cleaning, wishing to go to the ball to meet the
prince etc.

This book had two

the art in this book
statements that saved it from is pretty cool. The
the whole thing being
author/illustrator
completely stupid. This first handmade the
being when the fairy
chickens/outfits. I
godmother tells Chickenrella still think this book
in response to her waiting for is kind of stupid
a man to solve her problems though.
" Don't wait for someone else
to fix things, dearie. You take
charge." Also, at the end of
the book the chicken prince
proclaims that he only went
to the ball to see the dresses,
and that it was his mother's
idea for him to find a bride.
The Prince is able to portray
a role where the male gender
is active in activities that are
often thought to be "girls",
and that is so important to
see when reading for
children.

The End, By David

LaRochelle

2007

This is a cute story. In this

instead of the Prince saving
the Princess, a princess
saves the prince! They refer
to her as "clever" and not to
stereotypical things of
femininity. The prince is also
off doing quests, but no
you're typical ones. In once
scene he makes a sad
dragon feel better.

At first the format

of this book really
through me off. I
think it would be a
fun read for kids
for a read aloud. It
is also a good
representation of a
Princess who can
take care of
herself.

Princess Hyacinth (the

surprising tale of a girl
who floated), By Florence
Parry Heide

2009 I liked this story, I think it was very original with

the Princess' ability to float. The one downside is
that the Princess couldn't save herself at the end
of the story, a boy had to. (a boy, whose name
was Boy) I think this was enforcing traditional
gender roles, but that was the only part of the
story that seemed to encourage something like
that.

It was nice to see the

Princess making decisions
for herself on things that
made her happy.

Lane Smith
illustrated this! He
is one of my
favorite illustrators!

An Undone Fairy Tale, By

Ian Lendler

2005 At first I was angry with this book, mainly because

of how ridiculous it started out with. Every
stereotype possible for a fairy tale was in the first
few pages. Helpless princess stuck in a tower,
because her father is controlling her life that she
has no say in. Not only that, but the princess
continues to play into the traditional gender role of
women by not being allowed to leave the tower
because she bakes such great pies. That is her
one and only job.

As the story went on each

stereotype was made up for
because of the humorous
story and illustrations. In the
end the princess ends up
rescuing herself, as well as
the prince and makes
decisions for herself. I do not
understand why the Princess
couldn't have tried to escape
the the tower to begin with,
but I almost wonder if the
author was trying to poke fun
at these patriarchal
viewpoints.

Princess Penelope, By
Julia Gran

2003 This is just awful. I think it is supposed to be a sort none

of cute story from parents to a daughter, but what
it really does is just give girls really strange
expectations of how they're allowed to act/what a
princess should be. There is a lot of femininity in
this book, how princesses should be beautiful, frail
etc. This also encourages a lot of patriarchy with
having the male role be the one to constantly be
serving the Princess, and basically catering to
every whim. Traditional Gender roles shine
through with the princess having to be perfectly
dressed to the nines with girly flounces.

The illustrations in
this book would
make for a fun
read, as well as
maybe a lesson on
how you can write
your own versions
of different stories.

I just can't imagine

ever using this
book. Even if I
were a parent, I
would feel weird
about getting this
for my child.

The Secret-Keeper By,

Kate Coombs

2006 Without realizing it after I checked this out from

I didn't see any obvious
the library, this is not a princess tale, but it is in the gender stereotypes in this
Fantasy genre.
story. I think for the most part
it is breaking them. This story
is set in a older time period (I
am thinking sort of Knights of
the Round table kind of
ages). In this story the Secret
Keeper lives by herself, and
has her own means of
keeping a living without a
man. I think that is a positive
display of trying to change
viewpoints on the role of
women, as well as showing
that just because a women
isn't married doesn't mean
she is a "bad girl"

This book reminds

me of across
between the Post
Secret website,
and The Giver. I
think this is an
interesting tale,
and you could talk
about the
importance of
leaning on
friends/being there
for friends during
hard times.

Princess Smarty Pants

Rules, By Babette Cole

2004 This whole book was very pro-feminism. A small

part of the book insinuated that the Princess was
a bad girl for not marrying a prince/having a
husband when she wanted a baby. Other than
that though, this was a positive, yet strange, book.

I though this book

was hilarious, I
loved when she
used an instant
gravy packed,
because she
doesn't like to
cook real things.

There were so many things

in this book that were
positive to fighting traditional
gender roles. The princess in
a overall wearing, instant mix
cooking ruler. She hangs out
with Dragons, and turns the
princes she doesn't want to
marry into toads. Although
readers may not realize it,
there is an underlying
support of women having
children (only if they want to)
without having a father.

The Princess and the

Pizza by Mary Jane Aunch

2002 I am not completely sure how to analyze this

book. In the beginning of the book the Princess
starts out by wanting to become a princess back
in the castle again. It goes through the different
things she misses, which apply to traditional
gender roles in fairy tales. In a way though, the
Author's voice is poking fun at this. The qualities
the Queen expects the Princess to have to marry
her husband also are very traditional, for instance
knowing how to cook, looking beautiful etc.

In the beginning of the story

the King steps down from his
job as a leader to be a wood
carver. I think this is a good
representation of males not
having to live up to the ideals
of male programming. This
breaks the traditional king
role in picture books.
Although the Princess mostly
acts the traditional role with
her looks and actions, in the
end she chooses to dump
the prince and open her own
business. This is a good
example of feminism, for the
right reasons.

This picture book

has a lot of adult
humor, and I am
not sure if kids
would completely
get it. It is pretty
funny, though.

Fairly Fairy Tales, By

Esme Raji Codell

2011 The text itself in this book isn't stereotypical, but

some of the pictures are. In the scenes with
Cinderella, the ugly step sisters (granted, they're
supposed to be "uglier") are by huge amounts
dumpier looking than the Princess. I personally
thought that this was a part of the good girl, bad
girl idea because Cinderella is a prime example of
the good girl/feminine aspects (good, sweet).

There are some great

This is cute, I think
illustrations the fight the
it is more geared
traditional role of males in the towards prestory, for instance having the school/K level of
wood cutter in Little Red
reading.
Riding hood as a hair
dresser.