Positive, non-sexist books and videos for toddler girl?

[franch]

It's gradually dawning on me how sexist some TV programmes and books for the very young are - stuff like the Tweenies and Bob the Builder are really beginning to irritate me.

As we've cancelled our Sky subscription I'm relying on videos/DVDs from now on, which will allow me to be more selective (not that DD watches much TV but we've got a new baby on the way and I know I'll start resorting to it more when b/fing etc).

So - book and video/TV recommendations for an 18mo please, full of subversive girl power!

I agree entirely with Twiglett.

But if you really want a non-sexist princess story, there's one called Princess Smartypants, in which the heroine rides a motorbike and refuses to get married to even the handsomest prince. I have to say that it was too PC for me, but you might like it. I can't remember the author's name now though.

Princess smartypants is rubbish IMO

dd1 doesnt 'get' it (at 5.5) as she has no idea you are supposed to get married anyway

D D D D Dora is great if you can stomach the annoying voice. dd2 (2) loves her.

She also loves (bookwise) Meg and Mog, Mog the Cat (surely a great female role model , the Snail and The Whale (how lovely IS that story??), but doesnt 'get' princesses yet (thank god).

I agree re tweenies but luckily both mine have always hated it.

Peppa Pig is very very good too.

whatever happened to the Woodentops? lovely family dramas and

the biggest spotty dog you ever did see!

Is there anyone female in Bill and Ben?

Peppa Pig's a girl then is she?

Little Weed is a girl, flame (I think). Not a terribly good role model, being little and rather weedy

Loubie Lou from Andy Pandy but she's floral floaty skirt wearing and don't know what she does exactly.

Not a sex related book, but Milo and the Magic Stone is a great for good/bad enviroment stuff.

Teaches kids how to work with nature to stay alive!

Sorry... not really the topic at hand, but sprang to mind...

yes Peppa is a girl

very amusing British animation that I enjoy as well as the dds

Bob the Builder etc doesn't seem to be doing DD much harm yet... she is perfectly happy to beat up any boy playing with the car that she wants

Clifford the big red dog??

emily elizabeth owns him so suppose she's the heroine

I have lots of sympathy Franch - I am constantly astounded by how ingrained gender stereo-types are. I often despair at the number of books with boy leads. No good yet for yours but Roald Dahl is pretty good - Matilda is a great book. And his revolting rhymes are the perfect antitode to fairy stories in which the moral is generally look pretty and everything will be ok. Maisy mouse books are reasonably non-stereotyped and good for your age group. Julia Donaldson's fairly reasonable too - Room on the Broom is lovely to read. will post again if I think of more.

one of my favourites - but too grown up for your 18 month old is Lily's Purple Plastic Purse - she has a male primary school teacher, a dad who cooks, cnd / one world posters on the wall in the background, and goes to sit on the "unco-operative chair" when she's been rude to her teacher. It's fab. Another nice one to read is Quentin Blake's We all Join In. In some places possibly a bit sentimental about a certain kind of totally barmy cash-poor upper class twits but I love it.

!

dd1 talks about that book all the time!

she wants me to buy it but could never remember who it was by (they read it in her reception class)

Thanks hatstand

twig - your point about Dora the explorer not being ok if it was Juan, for me, misses the point. There is nothing "wrong" with stories with boys as the lead character. The problem is that unless you make an effort to seek out good girl stuff the overall balance of what your kids get exposed to would be overwhelmingly male dominated. which, for me, is a problem

it would be rubbish if it was Juan the Explorer because Juan doesnt rhyme with Explorer

Enid.

And agree with hatstand.

Why do so many people hate observations about the continuing lack of gender equality, anyway? I'm still perturbed at Jools' groan! Is it so bad even to raise this as an issue? I think not, as wee teenagers apparently say these days.

I find it easy to find good girl stuff in children's books, hard in videos and almost impossible in pre-school children's tv. Balamory might be ok in that way, women mechanic etc (but is a bit irritating in other ways!).

books - the little princess "I want my potty" etc series (Tony Ross) are quite feisty. (if you have to have princesses at all....)

our local library has loads of good books with strong minded girls. there are some, for toddlers, about a single mother, I think they're by Sara Garland? called things like Doing christmas, or Doing the Shopping.

Mulan is the best (least bad) of the disney princesses. haven't seen Pocahontas. bit scary for a toddler though.

Not for a toddler I suppose because she wouldn't appreciate how unusual the heroine was for her times, but there is a lovely story called Roller Skates for when she is a bit older. Lucinda is a treasure.

My naughty little sister is fairly feisty too. (Haven't read whole thread so don't know if it was suggested already.)

Small hijack alert.

scummy, do wee teenagers really say "I think not"? Coo! Our family does, but we got it from the Watership Down film; it's what the horrid cat says (in a horrid catty voice) when she has her paw on the rabbit's tail. (At least I think it's the tail. Somewhere it can't get away from anyway.)

In similar style we also use "very much so", from The Office - the scene where Keith is supposed to be doing that questionnaire and D Brent has to read out the options every time

Oooh, just remembered Come Outside with Auntie Mabel "flying" her plane - disregarding the very butch back-of-neck of the person who is really flying it - is she any use?

how can you get embroiled in all this - bet the kids aren't the remotest bit interested they just know what they like - all power to them!

I was reading 'Jill and the perfect pony' the other day on the loo (as you do) and it struck me how fab Jill was, no boys in sight, ponies everywhere, tons of pluck etc etc

But not allowed to say "actually" until she was in the fifth form???