reader.ly

I just finished reading Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on the Kindle and iPhone. It’s a quick read (two late nights) and utterly delightful, if that’s an appropriate way to describe a detective novel. Set in 1950’s England, Flavia de Luce, the 11-year-old heroine, uses her wits and astonishing knowledge of chemistry to solve a murder on the grounds of her family’s crumbling estate, Buckshaw. The plot twists were pretty easy to figure out; I was about a chapter ahead of Flavia on every major development, but then again she’s eleven years old. Still, the novel was completely engrossing and there was plenty of suspense in watching Flavia take on all of the adults, well-meaning or not, around her.

I wish I could read Sweetness to my three-year-old daughter as an antidote for Barbie & The Diamond Castle, a book with a drawing of what appears to be Paris and Nicky Hilton look-alikes holding puppies on the cover. My daughter spotted the book at the library on Monday and picked it up immediately. I agreed to check it out because really, what harm can there be in letting a child read about princesses on occasion? When I was seven years old, I’d check out an entire shelf of fairy tales from the library at a time, and expanded my interest from fairy tales to mythology and history. So on Monday I put the Barbie princess book in the bag and checked out the Brothers Grimm version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses to provide some balance in fairytale reporting.

Barbie & The Diamond Castle adopts some familiar fairy tale tropes, including a mysterious old woman who gives them an enchanted object — a mirror, of course. What’s funny is when they throw in some new ones, like puppies, which the girls find and adopt on their way to said castle to break a spell. If you’re ever going on an adventure to foil a wicked Muse, a puppy is sure to come in handy. Along the way, they get rescued by a pair of cute singing Jonas twins and then rest at a manor. This is where I put the book down — “They find food to eat and they try on gowns.” Gowns. The girls have their very own Pretty Woman moment at some strange manor where there are unattended dresses that happen to fit them. At the risk of giving away the plot, in the end the girls become princesses and “their gowns sparkle.” One wonders what non-lethal but cosmetically damaging concoction Flavia would brew for these two.

The contrast between Flavia and Barbie (who is a brand, not a character, in her books) highlighted for me the need to do more due diligence on the children’s books, specifically those for girls, that I bring home. I’ll start with a list from the San Francisco Public Library and throw in two of my childhood pals, Pippi Longstocking and Ramona. I’m not opposed to all books that feature girls dressing up, playing princess, etc. I love the Fancy Nancy series, for example. But my daughter needs a balanced diet in books as well as food, and at this point could use more Flave than fluff.