Read of the Month: July 2015

A New Hero 

The search for culturally relevant children's books is a never ending journey. Just recently I tuned into one of my favorite podcasts Black Girl Nerds, and heard about the coolest thing ever... a children's book with a black girl princess as the lead character called Princeless by Jeremy Whitley of the Action Lab Comics. The story begins as other fairy tales usually begin... sort of. The reluctant princess, Adrienne, is trapped in a tower guarded by a dragon, but this princess decides to take matters into her own hands. Now this comic reminds me of my favorite "Disney Princess" Mulan and the more recent Queen Elsa of Frozen. While Mulan technically is not a princess but she does take matters into her own hands, steals her fathers armor, and joins the army. The model of young girls being their own hero, not simply waiting for a man or anyone else to save them is a great model. Insisting that men must save women is not realistic, and if we continue to teach this to our young girls we are setting them up for failure. Be your own hero, be a "Go Getter", take the initiative and be the leader  is what we should teach all children.

Join me in reading the first issue of this empowering comic with a FREE download found here.

Happy Reading!