Hellobee

I’ve blogged in the past about Olive being a reluctant reader. When she was a baby, we stuck mostly to lift the flap and texture books because they were the only ones that were able to maintain her attention for any extended period of time. We had a breakthrough when she was about 2 years old and we started reading at the dinner table; Olive started enjoying books more then. Now she’s 3 1/2 and in the past couple of months, she’s become a veritable bibliophile, and I can pinpoint exactly when it happened.

It all started when I purchased Pinkalicious. She’d recently become enchanted with all things girly, princess and pink, but I resisted the series because I’m not a girly girl. Olive instantly became smitten with the book, particularly the collection books. Previously we never had any “girly” books since we just read all of Charlie’s old books. But when I saw what an impact reading books that spoke to Olive had, we quickly expanded our collection to include many more books that captured her interest. I also started taking Olive to the library and bookstore every week so we could discover even more titles. And at Charlie’s recent school carnival they were selling books for 50¢-$1, so I picked up about 100 for the kids! Needless to say we’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Olive loves reading so much now that she falls asleep holding a book, comes out of her room each morning holding a book, and usually wants to take a book with her to school. She can sit and flip through a book by herself for an hour. It’s been a complete change from the book-averse girl she was the first 2 years of her life!

If you have a girly girl in your life, these are some of the books that Olive has been loving lately. Oh and Charlie enjoys most of these too!

1) Olivia and the Fairy Princesses – Admittedly this book is not as much of a favorite for Olive as some of the other titles on here, but I still read it frequently because I just love this spunky pig. The book is actually about not being a fairy princess, has a great empowering message, and it’s pretty hilarious too!

2) I Had a Favorite Dress – I probably never would have discovered a book like this were it not for Charlie’s school book sale, which is why I like to check out all kinds of different places for books – libraries, book stores, thrift stores, amazon, etc. This book is about a girl whose favorite dress becomes too small. Her mom alters it with her sewing machine to make it a shirt, then a tank top, then a skirt, a scarf, etc. Definitely one of Olive’s current favorites, and relatable to any child who has a favorite article of clothing. Author Boni Ashburn just came out with a sequel, I Had a Favorite Hat!

3) Disney Princess Bedtime Stories – We own several of these collections, and they’re a great deal because they have so many stories in each one! They are longer, have less pictures, and harder vocabulary, so I would ideally recommend this for the 4+ crowd. Other collections we have in this series include: Princess Adventure Series, Disney Bedtime Favorites, and Disney Fairies.

4) Fancy Nancy – I am definitely going to write an author spotlight on Fancy Nancy because it is Olive’s current favorite series, and parents are sure to love Fancy Nancy just as much! Nancy loves to be fancy so the books are a visual feast with beautiful illustrations and intricate details on every page. She also uses big fancy words that has helped Olive learn a lot of new vocabulary. But most of all I love that the books always have a positive message or lesson, while still being fun and not the least bit saccharine. Nancy is a strong female character that just happens to love being fancy! This is a must-have book for every girl 3+. We own most of the books in this series!

5) Pinkalicious – I did an extensive review of Pinkalicious here. I’d recommend getting the original Pinkalicious which is by far the best, as well as the 2 storybook collections. Olive’s second favorite story is Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink which is included in the latter collection.

6) Ladybug Girl – The protagonist Ladybug Girl is such a positive, strong female (superhero) character, and the books celebrate every day exploration and imagination. I have to admit that when I first read the books I wasn’t in love because there wasn’t too much of a plot. But now that we’ve borrowed many of the books in this series from the library, I’ve come to appreciate them a lot more. The illustrations are gorgeous and I love how Lulu turns every day activities into adventures. She has a huge imagination, and the books are all about free play. I’m definitely partial to Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy though — it’s my favorite in the series.

7) Birdie’s Big-Girl Shoes – I bought this book because I’m a big fan of Sujean Rim’s illustrations (she created the Daily Candy illustrations). This is a charming book about Birdie, who is dying to wear her mom’s high heels, but ultimately realizes that her bare feet enable her to do much more. There are several more Birdie books in the series including Big-Girl Hair, Plays Dress Up, and Big-Girl Dress.

8) Little Golden Books – We own most of the princess Little Golden Books. I love them because they tell the classic tales we’re all familiar with, and they’re cute and affordable too!

9) Frozen Big Golden Book – We’ve had this book since Olive was 2. It’s very true to the movie, and though it is pretty long for a 2-year old, she’s always been able to sit through the whole thing because… it’s Frozen! A must-have for any Frozen lover in your life.

10) Not All Princesses Dress in Pink – I try to mix up it up with strong female books so that it’s not all princess and pink all the time, and I like that this book shows princesses in a different way. The hook is that it repeats “and a sparkly crown” shown atop each girl’s head whether she is in baseball cleats, using tools, playing in dirt, etc. It was definitely a different book than I expected, but I love that it’s a springboard for discussing all the things that girls can do (while wearing a sparkly crown!).

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What are some of your favorite “girly” books?