Children's books which promote gender equality

[frankfrankly]

My ds 2 is a BIG fan of diggers and tractors. I have yet to find a tractor book which portrays a female driving! (I think there is a Maisey one and ds has asked for it, but I think it was a colouring book and I can't seem to find it).

Anyway, I have found one or two books, which he loves, that have a more balanced view of men and women's roles, or challenge stereotypes outright.

Toad Makes a Road - I was surprised t o find Toad was a strong minded independent female (complete with bulldozer, tarmac layer, line painter) who needs a road so makes it herself.

The Paper Bag Princess - has the prince being captured by the dragon and the princess rescuing him.

My Big Book of Rescue Heros - a bit of an older book, but pictures are lovely and it has men and women depicted in all the major services - firefighters/ambulance/police/coast guard.

So what else is out there?

Sorry, BRUCE Mack!

Pippi Longstocking! (from about age 4 I'd say)

Thanks for the suggestions of non-genderist books for boys. My twins are 8 and they and their peers read stuff like Alex Rider books (Anthony Horowitz)where the hero is male, macho and solitary and Alpha Force - by Chris Ryan - where there are plenty of female strong, athletic, intelligent role models but again the boys tend to be macho or geeky-technos.

I'm looking for more examples of boys/men who are nurturing, artistic, gentle but not necessarily 'geeky/nerdy'. My sons already split male peers into 'Football Freaks' vs 'Nerds/Geeks'. DS2 is in the Geek camp. DS1 is accepted by the FFs but not at all macho really and doesn't have an 'archetype' to identify with. I wonder what other books there might be?

Ironically, one of the better example of non FF/geek boys I can think of is the whole Swallows & Amazons series. Admittedly, Susan does most of the cooking, but apart from that there isn't any obvious gender division between the girls & boys.

I guess Nancy & Titty are the strongest characters, but thinking about the whole series there are lots of good boy characters too especially in the books set in Norfolk. (Thinking of the Coot Club trying to protect birds for example.) Except for Dick of course who is a hopeless geek .

yes to Swallows and Amazons.
What is so fab is that he has girl characters who are good at the boy stuff (Nancy) and ones who do the girl stuff (Susan) but he repeatedly makes the point that the girl stuff is not lesser but essential - that if they hadn't had such a good Mate the Swallows would never have been allowed to go and have the adventures.
Boys are definitely nurturing (John's relationship with Titty) and there are plenty of bits where boys cook throughout the books

If only he had given Titty a different name though!

OK, this is really silly, but the other books that dd likes that have great boy characters are the Jennings books - no girls at all of course as set in a boys' school, but IMO the boys are ridiculously true to life (at least relative to my just about 8 y/o dd) and their 'adventures' are all things like building huts in the woods.
I can't think of any macho characters, nor really any geeks, just really funny typical 8 y/os stumbling chaotically through life as they do.
(DD does read some books that don't date from the 1950s, honest!)

I suppose Jennings has the advantage that as there are no girls at all they can't be stereotyped, whereas the William books are hilarious but certainly don't bear feminist analysis

Hmm, in trying to think of more books to suggest I have realised that I only read books about animals when I was little. But if we can expand out to male and female animals what about Charlotte's Web? Wilbur the pig is certainly not macho, he's quite wimpy really, but does well in the end, with help from clever Charlotte who is a lovely character (and I speak as an arachnophobe who can usually barely read the word spider without flinching).

What about the Winnie the Pooh series? Christopher Robin is lovely and cares a lot about his friends, without being either geeky or tough. In a similar vein Anne Fine writes brilliantly well-rounded characters both male and female. This one looks nice: The Jamie and Angus Stories.

And this one sounds pretty interesting, about a boy who wakes up looking like a girl and has to go to school in a dress and get a taste of thing's from a girl's perspective: Bill's New Frock.

Oh, and here's a proper link to The Wrestling Princess and other Stories.

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Con Iggulden,
and Enid Blyton's Spinky got a Spanky.

Piggybook by Anthony Browne

I like Bills New Frock by Anne Fine, and Joan Aiken is pretty good for feisty girls.

Another vote here for Katie Morag. ds and dd have both enjoyed the Daisy books: Yuk!, You Do!, Eat Your Peas et al. They don't especially show women in stereotypically male roles but Daisy is a tomboy who doesn't like pink and frilly.

For small DC there are (or were, they may be out of pring) some books called the Little Engine series that I bagged for DS at a boot sale - Harriet the Helicopter and Sally the Sea Ferry.
Now they are poorly written and dumb as hammers but they are female machines, both of whom rescue male machines (ISTR Harriet assists a hot air balloon with a leak and Sally puts out a fishing boat that's on fire and tows it back to harbour).

I was re-reading Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl the other day and it struck me that it is a very unusual representation of a father, nurturing single father etc. Some Dahl has been criticised for its portrayal of women (The Witches for eg!) but Danny is just a lovely book.

Let's Play Fairies by Sue Heap is nice as it just shows two girls and a boy playing lots of different imaginary games (including fairies at the end).

The dc have a cheap, little board book called 'Danny the Digger' which we picked up in a bargain bookshop. Even though the main character is Danny, Megan the Mixer joins to create a toyshop 'for all the girls and boys'.

Bob the Builder (again, male protagonist ), has lots of positive female representation. I think some of the machines are female voiced. Is also not that hideous patronising modern cliche of 'ohh the man bungles it and hee HEE the WOMAN saves the DAY. Ha ha.' Wendy works with him - and has particular skills that are better, but sometimes Bob leads.

All the Usbourne books about Apple Tree Farm.

"This is Mrs Boot the farmer..."

Sorry if someone mentioned it already and I missed it, but what about Mrs Plug the Plumber by Allan Ahlberg? Some friends just gave it to my DD (1.5) and she loves the pictures. I believe there are other titles in the same series but I don't know if they're as positive in terms of strong female roles.

Lovely to be reminded of the Wrestling Princess too, I adored it when I was little.

What about My Brother Bernadette by Jacqueline Wilson? Design a Pram by Anne Fine too for those a bit older. Piggybook, I love Mrs Plug

The Night Pirates and The Princess Knight are both well read in our house also TV series like Roary and Bob the Builder have positive female characters in them.

For older children (say 8+) some books by Geoffrey Trease are good - they generally have one boy and one girl in equal stong roles. Try Cue for Treason (about Shakespeare) boy actor playing the female roles, boy-who-turns-out-to-be-girl playing them better.

And of course, the Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler.

For the older children, we found the "How to Train Your Dragon" series good. Yes, the hero is a boy, but, on the whole, he's terrible at being a pirate andis a bit of a geek. He has a friend, Camakazie, who is much better at the pirates stuff, who is a girl.

The Allan Ahlberg Happy Families series (of which Mrs Plug is one) are great for this - there's divorce/remarriage/blended families (Ms Cliff), joint custody (Miss Dirt), adoption (Master Track) - and a good laugh.

Margaret Mahy has lots of strong characters - who couldn't love Mrs Oberon in A Busy Day for a Good Grandmother with her trailbike/raft etc - and Sweeny her son looks after the baby while his wife goes to work.

Captain Pike Looks after the Baby has the pirates caring for the baby.

Little Bear series (Can't you sleep LB etc) has daddy bear and baby bear with no signs of other parents - very nuturing without it being in your face

I second The Paper Bag Princess. Loved it.

For 2-3 year olds:
Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

He writes on the back:
"Dear friends,
In most fish families, after the mother has laid the eggs and the father has fertilized them, the eggs are left on their own. But there are exceptions such as the seahorse, stickleback, tilapia, Kurtus nurseryfish, pipefish, bullhead catfish, and some others. Not only are the eggs cared for by a parent butsuprisethat parent is the father. Andt this is my story about them. I hope you enjoy my story."