Strong female characters

[MyKingdomForBrie]

I've noticed lately just how insidious the whole girly/pink/sweet stereotype is even in things that it would never occur to me to be aware of.

I want to try and counter this with some strong female characters, not to make a point of but just to include in my dds bedtime stories. She's 2.5, obsessed with books and we read three every night.

I'd really appreciate some help with books for toddlers/pre schoolers where the female characters are a bit different - not always in a skirt/dress etc!

Hmmm. I'm looking on my shelf and not seeing very much, I'm afraid.

Although many of the characters are (male) animals!

Room on the broom has an excellent witch who runs the show!

It's not your age range but when she's older the Greta Zargo books are fab.

Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson has a good female character. Princess Pearl resists being a traditional princess and flies off to be a great doctor instead.

The Worst Princess.

Quite similar to Zog though.

There is a range called Little Feminist as well, which has books about Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie..

Maisy books by Lucy Cousins
The Flying Diggers by Ian WhybroWright

Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root....The girl characters get stuck into fixing the car alongside the male characters. Plus the dad is the caregiver, which I like.

Phyllis Root has also written a series of books about Bonnie Bumble. They help teach kids the days of the week. Bonnie Bumble dresses in red dungarees.

Pippi Longstocking when she's a bit older.
Dogger - main character has an extremely kind big sister who does a fab thing
Vintage reading - Milly Molly Mandy

Katie Morag bookd

'A Mighty Girl' (on FB but website too I think?) has lists that might help.

*The Flying Diggers by Ian Whybrow
Same author that wrote Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs
Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep by Debi GliorI (It might be spelt Debbi, I can't remember.

Maybe for when she's about older but Daisy books by Kes Gray. They start with picture books (eg 006 and a bit) and progress into early chapter books. Also Daisy's mum is single so it makes a change from all families having a mummy and a daddy.

Mrs Plug the Plumber.

We also kept an eye out for books where the main characters aren't all male by default. Eg not Dear Zoo.

Any picture book where the child hasn’t got pigtails or something, call her a girls name instead of a boys name.

"Izzy Gizmo" was a big hit, but most of all my DD loved the Little Princess books when she was that age.

There's one I used to love as a kid by Enid Blyton, called The Naughtiest Girl in School or something like that. Strong main character.

When she's older - Ingraine Ohnefurcht by Cormelia Funke - Sorry, I do not know what the translation is called but DD loved it when she was about 4.