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Books for 2 year old girl with a strong female main character?

23 replies

unexpectediteminbaggingarea · 10/11/2012 09:01

DD loves princesses (natch) but I'm trying to find her books with excitement and adventure and strong female main characters.

I know this sounds really earnest and po-faced, and I'm not, honestly. I just hate all that Disney princess and barbie shit.

Thank you!

OP posts:
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WofflingOn · 10/11/2012 09:03

Katie Morag

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coldcupoftea · 10/11/2012 09:08

The Night Pirates
Polly Jean Pyjama Queen
Zog
Dora the Explorer
Meg and Mog

off the top of my head, I'm sure there are lots more.. sorry can't do links on phone! My 2yo DD loves books that are not too gender specific anyway, like the Gruffalo, fairy tales etc...

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RubberNeckNibbler · 10/11/2012 09:08

Monkey and me
Maisy books (DS adores Maisy)
No Matter What doesn't mention gender so you can play it either way and is a lovely tale
Meg and Mog

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GobblersSparklyExplodingKnob · 10/11/2012 09:11

Princess Smartypants is pretty cool.

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Theas18 · 10/11/2012 09:14

Got to be Katie morag lovely books on somany levels .

Mind you the feisty little princess in"I want my potty"etc us great and a princess

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Huffpot · 10/11/2012 09:17

I love "The Paperbag Princess" by Robert Munsch. The princess has to rescue the prince - its brilliant.

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DunderMifflin · 10/11/2012 09:19

Olivia - she's a pig!

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wearymum200 · 11/11/2012 18:39

Katie Morag
Shirley Hughes' Lucy and Tom books
James Mayhew Katie books (there is one called Katie and the Spanish Princess which will tick the princess box, but dd fave one is Katie in London)

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MrsWolowitz · 11/11/2012 18:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Schlock · 11/11/2012 18:42

I second princess smartypants.

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timtam23 · 11/11/2012 20:36

Definitely Princess Smartypants!
Also; Winnie the Witch; Handa's Hen/Handa's Surprise
Shirley Hughes does some books with a little girl and her baby brother - Katie & Olly - The Nursery Collection is the main book but there are lots of other small spinoffs - Bouncing/Giving/Chatting etc - the illustrations are gorgeous

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BlueChampagne · 12/11/2012 14:01

Another vote for Winnie the Witch and Katie Morag.

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unexpectediteminbaggingarea · 16/11/2012 13:25

ty ty everyone. I'm enjoying buying all these lovely books for DD christmas! Except the Paperbag Princess, which was on amazon for about £70 so slightly outside my budget.

Princess smartypants arrived yesterday, it's great.

OP posts:
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peachcake · 20/11/2012 10:50

Haha too funny just looked at Princess Smartypants books on Amazon and read such a funny and critical and review I thought i would share it!

www.amazon.co.uk/review/R29Y4Y4BSR7R16/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21#R29Y4Y4BSR7R16

Really made me chuckle!

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elkiedee · 20/11/2012 12:37

I do think Zog is a particularly good recommendation - there is a princess but she isn't really interested in just being a princess - she has other ambitions.

Another Julia Donaldson is Room on the Broom, and The Gruffalo's Child is a little girl.

Emma Chichester-Clarke's Blue Kangaroo series features a girl called Lily, who does have a fondness for girly stuff, but she's attached to her kangaroo. My 5 year old DS1 loves this series, and when I first read it to him I gave him a toy kangaroo which I'd originally bought for myself - Katy Roo has become an important sleeping companion for DS1.

Maybe some of the fairytale retellings not based on princesses would be good - how about Little Red Riding Hood? (perhaps the version with a happy ending).

There are lots more for slightly older readers but I'm bearing in mind that your daughter is only 2!

I buy my sons a lot of books from www.thebookpeople.co.uk, which usually has a couple of good sets of colourful picture books, you can just skip the glittery princess things.

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lucasnorth · 21/11/2012 14:44

The Night Pirates. Best book ever to read aloud, as well as fitting your criteria!
The Worst Princess has great pictures, and is dead in line with your requirements.

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notcitrus · 21/11/2012 15:54

Freddie and the Fairy
Zog
Meg and Mog etc
The Large Family (5 minutes peace, etc)

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oneortwoorthree · 26/11/2012 09:02

Just discovered this website through a friend, and thought of this thread. www.amightygirl.com/books. Full of books and other stuff for strong girls! Hope you find it useful, my DD's Christmas presents will definitely include some of these!

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gingemum · 26/11/2012 13:06

Make a book that features you, I love these personalised books and so do the kids!
My mummy... virtual demo book

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jojane · 26/11/2012 13:12

Dd has a book called the worst princess or something (will have to look on bookcase) basically she gets rescued by a prince who then wants her to stay in the castle and look pretty but instead she runs of and has adventures with a dragon.

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posyplum · 26/11/2012 13:35

Topsy and Tim? (in the old versions at least, Topsy runs faster, swims first, less sulky when they both have a cold etc).

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LadyEnglefield · 28/11/2012 13:00

The Bella Donna series by Ruth Symes - she doesn't want to be a princess she wants to be a witchling!

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JoulesM · 28/11/2012 13:56

The Emily Brown books are fab and my 2year old girl loves them. In particular Emily Brown and the Thing and Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency. Here's a link www.cressidacowell.co.uk/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=67
(Hope the link works!)

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