The subtitle of this collection is: And Other Stories of Strong Women. It’s a great book, with exciting narratives and beautiful illustrations. Every story is fabulous. I’ve done many searches on Amazon and in bookstores and somehow never saw this book, so I was thrilled when Lucy got it as a Christmas gift. It has a quite a bit of text per picture, so younger kids may get bored.

This story used to make me so sad, I could barely stand it. Whenever I heard Peter, Paul, and Mary sing it, I’d have to turn it down, get out of the room, or cover my ears, and I’m referring to my time as a parent. Jackie Paper comes no more? Puff’s “head is bent in sorrow, geen scales fell like rain…Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave.” Does he just die? Alone like that? After all that frolicking in the mist, that’s how it all ends? Horrible. I can’t take it.

But now everything is OK. After all these years, a beautifully illustrated version came out in 2007, where a girl saves the day, saves Puff, saves us all. The lyrics are ilustrated just as you can imagine, until the text repeats the chorus for the final time. Then a girl is shown climbing down a hill, spotting puff, who smiles gleefully  at her. On the next page, she strokes him under hs chin while he presses his nose toward her forehead, her father looking on in the background, also smiling.

Thank God Peter Yarrow had a daughter and was inspired to come out with this book. In his author’s notes, he writes that he recorded a special CD with Bethany (which comes with this book.) Lenny Lipton writes in his author’s notes that when he was in Hawaii, a friend asked him how he came to set the book in Hanalei, and he said he’d never heard of Hanalei. (I never realized the island sounded Hawaiian until I read this.)  He goes on to write, “There are many what-ifs along the way with Puff. I left a poem in Peter Yarrow’s typewriter, and he added  some new lyrics and turned it into a song.”

This book makes me think Yarrow, Lipton, and Yarrow’s daughter were as troubled by Puff’s sad story as me and probably millions of parents and kids. My mom got this book for my daughters, and now when we hear the song, Granny tells how Puff was so sad, but then Alice came! My three year old lights up every time she hears that. It’s amazing this song has transformed from tragic and all male into a happy, girlpower story just with a couple illustrations (see, guys, that’s all a little imagination takes.) The interpretation that this song was about marijuana/ addiction has never consoled me. This beautiful book does.

Check out this written for SFgate by Woodhull Institute alumn Lisa Hix. The article, about a new book called The Supergirls, claims that SF author Mike Madrid is finally giving superheroines their due. Yay, it’s about time!

I love this quote from Madrid, author of The Supergirls, just because it is so right on: “When I was growing up in the ’60s, a lot of guys didn’t like the women in comics, because they thought they were useless and annoying. The women were there to escalate the danger. They were supposed to be members of the team, but often times they created extra work because the men had to rescue them.”

How many of us have sat in movie theatres screaming at the women not to do all the stupid things the films’ writers, directors, and producers make these actresses do? It’s mind programming on such a massive scale, getting audiences all over the world accustomed to seeing women act passive, frightened, and dumb.

I haven’t seen this new book, but am excited to check it out. When I got Wonder Woman for my daughter, she asked me “Why is she always in her underwear?” So I’m hoping at least some of these supergirls have clothes on and no implants along with doing brave things; I’ve been so disappointed in female superheroines of the past, with their tiny skirts and missle  breasts, looking like sex fantasies of teen boys instead of girlpower. I’m a little nervous that the author of The Supergirls is a guy, but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because he sounds so smart. Ratings on this book coming as soon as I get it.

The book begins with a double page illustration of all the sisters lined up, smiling, but looking directly at the reader. I’m always trying to teach Lucy to look people in the eye when she is talking to them and to speak with a strong voice. I get no help from all these shy princesses and shy girls in movies and books, always coyly looking away. Even books I like such as Louder Lily and Shrinking Violet are about timid girls; it frustrates me that acting shy is so often presented in kid lit and kids’ media as the essence of femininity. Are there any books about shy boys? Please let me know, I want read them to my kids. God knows there are shy boys in real life and this giant discrepancy in the fiction world makes no sense. I guess when the girls appear shy, it’s an easy way to make boys seem brave.

These seven sisters are courageous and cool and beautiful. Each sister has a special skill– driving a scooter as fast as the wind, the ability to speak to dogs, catching any ball no matter how high. All these talents come in handy  when a dragon kidnaps the baby and her older sisters must rescue her (so it’s also a good opportunity to teach kids about foreshadow.)

The dragon is bright red and the pictures are vivid and magical looking. My three year old absolutely loves the picture of the dragon grabbing up the baby sister, she’ll just stare at it for minutes at a time. There are many action shots including the girls speeding up the mountian in the scooter, leaping high to slap the dragon, catching the baby when she is tossed through the air.

I also like this story because it turns out the dragon is wicked because he is so lonely. I’m always telling my kids that’s why people are bad or mean– they didn’t get enough love and just need more. I hope this is true.

I’ve been a Kelly Cutrone fan since she first appeared as Whitney Port’s boss on The Hills, MTV’s hit reality show about young women trying to get rich and famous in LA (problem is, they are already rich and famous from being on the show– very meta– but the program, somehow avoids showing any of that, except you’ll see Heidi Montag and her apparently totally unemployed husband, Spencer, move from their condo to a huge, gorgeous house with crazy views.)

For those who don’t know of her, Kelly owns a fashion/ PR company called People’s Revolution. Whitney Port got a job there when her Teen Vogue internship was up, and then brought along her friend Lauren Conrad. Then Whitney moved to NYC to work for Diane Von Furstenburg for a season, but now she’s back working with Kelly who is suporting/ mentoring her as she tries to launch her own fashion line.

So in case you can’t tell, I’ve been watching this MTV show since Laguna Beach days. None of these shows are for kids, but for a tired mom at the end of the day– perfect. It’s a great, mindlesss accompaniment to reading my weekly tabs. When the kids are asleep, my husband is working, I have some quiet, alone time for just half an hour, about once a week. There’s nothing like it.

Kelly Cutrone fascinates me because she works in the model/ fashion business but her hair is always kind of stringy, pulled back in a pony tail. She wears black head to toe, usually a long sleeved shirt black shirt and pants, no make up. Yet, you see her critiquing models and fashion all the time– and she’s right on with everything she says. How does she do it? How does she live and work in this world, be so succesful and not internalize any of it? It’s like she has magical powers, can get close to kryptonite and be immune. Is it that putting on great fashion shows is just like she’s creating any kind of a product, like say, sofas, so of course she’s not going to get all upset because she doesn’t look like her sofa?

On an Episode of The City, Kelly famously told a model, Ali, that she was too thin. It was great to hear that kind of honesty on this insane show (of course Ali denied it and freaked out, she was born thin, has always been thin, has hgh metabolism) though I don’t really see Ali’s body as much different than the multitude of skinny girls on the show.

I think its cool that Kelly has her own very successful business, looks like she employs almost allwomen and mentors them too. I’d like to have her on my side. It’s actually Kelly Cutrone that gave me the push to start blogging. I was reading in the NY Times Style section sometime in December I think, an article about fashion shows, and how some bloggers have reached the same status as fashion mags and these editors are up in arms about it. Kelly is quoted saying something like, “Would I put a blogger from Oklahoma in the front row next to an editor an Elle? Yes.” Before that, as a writer who achieved some level of success freelancing in “old media”, I was avoiding blogging– anyone can do it? you don’t have to pitch an editor? You don’t get paid for your wrting? Who reads it? I’m still a new blogger and don’t understand completely why I’m doing it (or even what an RSS feed is) but if Kelly is into it, so am I.

Kell on Earth is a new reality show just  about Kelly. Again, not for kids, but I’ll definitely check it out.