Greetings. Your site is really a beacon of hope. That there are people out there who don't think feminism is a dirty word, that people care about women. Thank you.

My daughter is three and I have been despairing of finding good books for her that feature women who don't wait to be rescued, are evil old crones, get killed in the end, etc. I have tried amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and even some feminist bookstores. From the latter there are some options, but for older children. amazon and barnesandnobles.com shamefully have almost nothing. It is absolutely shocking that, if you look at any children's book section, you will see unnecessary gender characterizations, even of animals (Peter, Mickey), insects (Jiminy), machines (Thomas), and even trees, skies, houses, tools - the list is depressing.

Please give me some recommendations, apart from the 600 Great Books for Girls, etc. I live in a non-English-speaking country where English books are hard to find, and would really appreciate a recommendation or so. Am I the only mother of a daughter who wonders about this? Am I overdoing it? Again, thank you for your work and thanks in advance. All the best, Saskia

I don't think that you are the only parent who thinks about the lack of good books for girls, but clearly not enough people are thinking about this. If that was the case, I would hope the prospects would look so bleak. I have three suggestions for books:

1.) The Feminist Press, which has published books for girls and women. They are located C/O the City University of New York.

2.) The National Women's History Project has great books for girls about women's history.

3.) About two years ago Pam Nelson started Girl Press - a publishing house to publish great books for girls. They are based in Los Angeles.

I hope those suggestions help, but mostly I hope that with collective energy we can change the landscape of children's books.

—Amy