I posted yesterday about my seeking out fairy-tale-like alternatives to the Disney princesses. I want to give the girls better role models (sorry, Ariel and Snow White) and perhaps a smidge of self-esteem in the process.

Then, coincidentally, a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog post yesterday from Christianity Today entitled “Toddler, Tiaras, and Surviving the Princess Mania”. The blog is a review of Peggy Orenstein’s newest book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatch From the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Based on the review, I’m heading out to get that book.

I’m relieved to know it’s not just me.

But read the review – while not exhaustive on the topic, it’s got some good points on the subject. And keep sending me alterna-princess book ideas.

I fought mightily to keep the dreaded Disney princesses from invading our homes, and they still made it in. It’s really impossible to keep them out – they’re on toothbrushes and valentines and pencils and even macaroni and cheese. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I have two problems with Ariel and her friends. First off, I am peeved about the whole licensed character thing. I can’t stand how ubiquitous their faces are, and how my daughters automatically beg me to buy gum/toilet paper/cheetos just because they have Belle and Aurora on them.

But my biggest issue is the type of role model these gals are being. Maddie and Cora hear the stories too often – “Someday my prince will come” is a too-often refrain, and the heroine can do nothing but clean the house after seven messy guys/wander through the woods picking berries, hidden away from all other people/prepare her mean sisters’ breakfasts and daydream about being rescued. Yes, this is a problem for me.

Our family reads a lot, and we’re always bringing home a bag full of books from the library. You want to watch the girls go crazy? Give them a gift card to Half-Price Books and stand back as they agonize over which book to pick. I guess I’m saying we go through a lot of books.

I have a long list of go-to favorites that I’d gladly give out as birthday or Christmas presents, and we just recently added a new one to the list – Memoirs of a Goldfish.

A couple years ago my friend Graham recommended a children’s Bible called The Big Picture Story Bible. I’d been looking for something to start reading to Maddie, and didn’t want simply a regular Bible with kid-friendly pictures in it. As soon as this book arrived, I knew I’d found my answer.

Maddie enjoyed flipping through the Bible off and on, but about six months ago she really started getting interested in reading it. Since then, she’s been reading several stories a week, if not one or two a day, and I’m trying to make a Sunday night snuggle with a glass of milk and a Bible chapter part of our weekly routine with the girls.