Feminist Fairy Tales for My 4 Year Old Girl?

Gotta love Hermione from Harry Potter--we started when my kids were 5 and 8. Junie B. Jones is funny (but grating). The Ramona books are great classics. Try the Magic Tree House series too.

The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke and Kerstin Meyer. Awesome book! Teaches a little girl that she can be anything as she teaches others around her that it doesn't matter that she is a girl.

I love the Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. It has won critical acclaim from feminists, including an endorsement from the National Organization for Women.

The plot is: Princess Elizabeth was planning on marrying Prince Ronald, who was practically perfect. Then along came a dragon, which destroyed her kingdom, kidnapped Ronald, and burned all her clothes so that she had no choice but to wear a paper bag. She tracked down and outwitted the dragon. She challenged the dragon to burn forests with fire and to fly around the world. The dragon completes the tasks but after flying around the world a second time becomes tired and falls asleep. Elizabeth then saves Ronald. He didn't even thank her and told her to come back to rescue him when she looked more princessy. Then Elizabeth realized what a bum Ronald was, told him off, and went off to live her own life.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch has been a favorite of ours for years & was one my mom highly recommended when she was working at school book fairs some years back. There are some great reviews of it on Amazon.com.

Ooooh, books! I love books!
"The Paper Bag Princess" is an old stand-by, and it's great. It's even in board book format these days.
"Girls Hold Up This World" is a photo essay by Jada Pinkett-Smith and it's very direct and beautiful.
The story of Atalanta came to my mind, too, although that's only in audio on the CD "Free to Be You and Me." My sons love that CD; there are many great little stories and songs on it. Atalanta is about a king who says the winner of the race can marry his daughter, but agrees that if his daughter wins the race, she can choose whom she will marry. She wins, but decides to be good friends with the man who is the runner-up. It charms me every time.
There are other songs on that album such as "Parents are People" that sings about how mommies are people with children who used to be girls but now they are grown-ups with children and they can be anything. . . except daddies or grandfathers, because daddies are people with children who used to be boys . . and so on. It's darling. There's a great bit about husbands and wives helping each otther with housework, and the importance of boys learning to be kind dads.
Don't forget the story of "Brave Irene" by William Steig. That one makes me want to cheer.
And remember, too, an empowering story is not always one where a girl kicks someone's teeth in ;) it can also be a story where beauty is not the most important value. Steig's "Shrek" comes to mind here.
So does "Excuse Me but that is my Bunny," about a girl who refuses to let the queen take her favorite stuffed animal.
The value of teamwork is important, too, since so much of American culture promotes competition between women. I don't think the Magic Tree House books are particularly well-written, but they do have a brother and sister working together, and both are clever and competent. I suspect your son would like those; my seven-year-old does.
There are many, many ethnic tales of clever girls. The plotline of "Rough-faced Girl" is fuzzy in my head, but I remember it's an American Indian version of Cinderella. You could find it and a dozen other top-notch suggestions in the Culture for Kids catalog. They have a picture book of the real story of Mu-Lan (a personal heroine of mine) and lots of other terrific stuff.
We have a cute picture book called "My Mom is a Fire Fighter" that my boys like. It's told from the point of view of the son, and makes nothing of her female-ness, only her comraderie with her male colleagues, whom her son calls his "firehouse uncles."
Message me if you need more ideas--your children's librarian will also be loaded with ideas.
P.S. Any of the games from Family Pastimes are useful for creating empowered, cooperative attitudes in your children, too. They have a game called Princess and also a game called Max that my three and seven-year-old could play and collaborate on. Max is our family's favorite.
Have fun!

'The Paper Bag Princess' is excellent. My daughter and I read it a hundred times. :)

Anything by Robert Munsch is amazing,they are alternative tales for children. Amelia Bedelia is just plain funny and entertaining to read and of course, Dr. Seuss. Good luck! I have 3 girls and we love to read :)

I love the Gigi series at Family Christian bookstores!!

Right off the top of my head--my daughters love The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. There is another great one and for the life of me I cannot remember the title. It has Princess in the title. It's about a Princess who does not want to get married, and tricks all the Princes. In the end one passes all her tests so she kisses him and turns him into a frog. Those are the only two I can think of.

J., The suggestion I have is for some movies. All the Barbie movies are about empowered girls, and the moral is usually about girl power...if you are determined you can do anything you set your mind to. I love them and my girls love then. (Even my Husband thinks they are great.)
E.

Ella Enchanted, the book. She sticks it out through tough situations, stands up for what is right and gets what she ought to in the end. (She also marries the prince--I happen to believe that an important part of a powerful woman is the supportive man standing beside her.)

Check Out singing to the sun by Vivian French

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter's by John Steptoe I dunno if it really fits the "girl power" role but emphasizes that being a good person is more important than being beautiful

If you are interested, I have a book I have written about an athletic little girl. I print them myself and am currently putting one together for another mamasource member and could easily print one up for you. the cost is $5. Let me know if you are interested.

Princess Smartypants

Hi J.,

Personally, I won't read any of my daughters feminist books. I know most women would want to slap me for saying that, but I don't like the anti-men, anti-marriage underlying themes. I am all for girl-power, as long as there is no subtle men-bashing, marriage-bashing, SAHM-bashing, or bashing girls that like to dress and act feminine. Men are awesome and so are women.

Just my humble opinion,
Marci