On Princesses, and other things

With little girls, I find myself in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by princess language and costumes.  Thankfully, my girls aren't too heavy on pink and glitter, but they do love to wear tutus, dresses, and crowns and be Princesses.  I guess it's unavoidable.

I've spent hours looking for girl heroes - not girls who are rescued or kissed, but girls who do heroic things.  I finally realized that I wasn't finding what I was looking for, because I was looking for girls filling the role of boy heroes - acting aggressively and violently.  Of course, girls can do those things, too, but in most traditional stories they don't.  So, I finally realized I needed to redefine for myself what a girl hero is.   

You already know I love the legend of George and the Dragon.  Here's one version:

A town was held captive by a dragon.  The people tried to appease the dragon with sheep, but one day they ran out of livestock.  With no other options, the princess Elizabeth went out to the dragon as a sacrifice for her people.  Before the dragon could take her, however, St. George appeared and wounded the dragon.  Then, George took Elizabeth's sash and tied it around the dragon's neck, now a tame beast.  Elizabeth took the leash and lead him back into the city, where the people cared for their former enemy. 

 St. George is the hero of the story.  It's true.  But, I'm finding I love the role the princess plays too.  She is brave and self-sacrificing.  She didn't have the strength or swordsmanship to rid her people of the dragon.  But she gave what she had - herself.  And that is a heroic act.

 I also love, in this version, that George doesn't kill the dragon.  He wounds and tames it.  I could write a whole post about how beautiful and redemptive the transformation of the dragon is - but there's more about the princess.  George ties her sash around his neck, and she leads him home where the people care for him.  Nurturing is a thankless task at times, but when someone depends upon it, like a wounded dragon, that's heroic, too.

I made L a little Princess (and a whole series of George and Dragon brooches, too).  As she watched me sew the other night, I told her this story.  Later, I heard her retelling it to John.  That was priceless.

I recently stumbled across this beautifully illustrated children's book about the version of George and the Dragon that I love so much.  In this post, the author Jim Forest beautifully explains how true stories turn into legends and myths, even within Christianity.   I love the way people have always used stories to talk about beautiful and true things.  Isn't that just what art is?  What a beautiful thing to give to our children.  It looks like you can pre-order the book here. 

I'd love to hear about your favorite female heroes.  My sister has talked about princesses some, too.   I'll link to it if I can find it...Here it is! She's excellent.

Kids' Crafternoon: Paper Curtains and Free Books!

I'm thrilled to be participating in the Kid's Crafternoon blog party! By now you already know, Kathreen put together the Crafternoon series, and the first two books Kids' Crafternoon Sewing and Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft are just out! Each book is full of craft projects that kids can do mostly unassisted in an afternoon, hence Kid's Crafternoon! I contributed a little Pencil Pouch project to the Sewing book, and I adore how they styled in in the book.  Isn't this cool?

The sewing book is full of such clever ideas, perfect for kids in the 7-12 range.  My girls are a bit younger, but I knew they'd enjoy making one of the projects from the Papercraft book with me.  We decided to try the Paper Raindrops Curtain by the lovely Khali Whatley.   My girls love to hang out the window to wave goodbye and hello to anyone coming or going, so I knew they'd really dig this.   

I love the sweetly illustrated instructions, and printed templates are always excellent, but they are especially good for kid's projects.   It was super easy to jump right into the project.  I did all the cutting, but the girls picked out the colors and helped me glue them together.  We were all tickled with how cool it turned out, and even the little one pronounced it "beautiful!"  The girls eagerly waited for Daddy to come home so that they could wave at them through the clouds!

Hardie Grant was kind enough to give me a copy of each book to give away to one of you!  To enter the give-away, tell me in the comments which book you'd most like, and who you'd like to spend a crafternoon with!  Two winners will each get one book.  Be sure to comment with an account where I can contact you.  Winners will be announced on August 2.

Also, if you get the chance, follow along with the rest of the blog party to see more projects from these excellent books, and more chances to win a book:

July22, Poppytalk - July23,  Picklebums - July 24, Little Eco Footprints - July 25, Beaspoke quilts - July 26, Maya Made - July 27, Checkout girl - July 28, The red thread - July 29, We Wilsons - July 30, Maggie Makes - July 31, Mmm Crafts - August 1, Domesticali - August 2, Floating Ink - August 3, Elizabeth Abernathy - August 4, Mommy Coddle - August 5, The Long Thread - August 6, Hannah Fletcher - August 7, Between the lines - August 8, Go Make Me

Coming soon...

Just popping in to tell you about the new Kid's Crafternoon series edited by Kathreen, just released this month and available on Amazon now.  I contributed this Pencil Pouch project to the sewing book. 

I just got my copy of both the Sewing and the Papercraft book - and let me just say, they're pretty cool!  I'll be participating in a blog tour at the end of the month - which may involve a give away (wink, wink).  So be sure to check it out. 

I'll be resuming regular blogging in August, and I'm going to try to squeeze as much summer fun into the rest of the month as I can!  Hope you can do the same.