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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Every-Day Dress-Up

Fantastic Giveaway:  If you'd like to win a prize pack with Every-Day Dress Up and five brand-new Women's History Month picture books, please leave a comment below!  You will get one entry for each comment you leave this month on Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month.  The winner will be drawn on April 1, after all comments are submitted.

March 3 - Today's post provided by Selina Alko
I am delighted to be here today as a visiting author and illustrator!  Let me tell you a little bit about why I created Every-Day Dress-Up. Five years ago when my son was a toddler, I noticed that his female friends had a particular penchant for princess dress-up.  At countless birthday parties and play dates, it wouldn’t be long before the little ones would rifle through chests of pre-fabricated fairy tale attire.  In no time at all, the girls (& some boys, too!) would parade down imaginary runways in their Cinderella finest.

I should disclose that I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is considered a progressive neighborhood.  Most of the moms in our circles work, and many have powerful jobs.  The dads in our circles are equally and actively involved in parenting.  It’s a far cry from the divided households many of us came from, where our moms were in the kitchen all day and our dads were mostly absent.

Nobody seemed to question the ubiquitous princess dress-up.  Had the feminist moms around me all just resigned themselves to the Disney-fication of their girls as a rite of passage?   It was just a ‘phase’ after all, my friends would say to each other, rolling their eyes.

There was something about the whole thing that didn’t sit right with me.  That little girls like to dress up was understandable, but emulating Royalty was another story, although it was all they knew.  This is what they were being exposed to from all angles; The fairy tale videos, the princess books, the television shows, etc.,

Personally, I didn’t want to buy into it.

Luckily I have the best job in the world!  I write and illustrate picture books, and I can make books about anything I want (so long as I have a willing editor).

By the time my daughter was born a few years later, I had started to develop the seeds for a manuscript about a girl who dresses up as real women in history; women who have done great things with their lives.  I thought it might be fun to have the protagonist chose someone different to dress up as every day of the week.  It seemed like a good way to teach girls about aspirational roles, and also, to encourage them to create their own outfits made out of things found around the house.  This was how I played dress-up when I was a little girl (not so much as well-known women, but by using found ‘every-day’ objects, plus my mom’s wardrobe as inspiration).

Thus, Every-Day Dress-Up began to take shape.

I had my daughter in mind while I created the text, sketches and final art.  I wanted her – and girls just like her – to know that there are other, attainable options than the ‘princess ideal’.  I wanted to empower them with the idea that they, too, could grow up to do great things with their lives!  I think strong female role models are essential to little girls, just as I try to be one for my daughter by showing her my love and passion for my work as an author/illustrator. Some of the icons in my book include: Frida Kahlo, Julia Child, Marie Curie, Ella Fitzgerald and Amelia Earhart.  There are short biographies of each woman at the back of the book.  It is my hope that girls (& boys) who read this book will learn a little bit about these accomplished heroines and, in turn, will be inspired to do something meaningful with their lives. Here are some pictures of my daughter dressed up as Frida Kahlo, Ella Fitzgerald and Amelia Earhart. Editor's Note:
SELINA ALKO is the acclaimed author-illustrator of I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother and B Is for Brooklyn, and the illustrator of the beloved My Subway Ride and My Taxi Ride. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two children. Posted by shelf-employed 
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