Anne of Green Gables gets a blonde makeover

WTF? I just posted about the offensive chicklit makeover for Plath’s Bell Jar that I saw on Jezebel and didn’t realize, it was only the beginning! They are fucking with the great heroines of YA who we already don’t have enough of. How can they go back and mess up those we love just in time for our children to read about them? Publishers gave Anne of Green Gables a blonde makeover.

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Thankfully, here’s my nine year old daughter’s edition, bought last year and waiting for her on the bookshelf:

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This is Anne! Looking out of the window, thinking, wondering about the world! Not smiling coyly for some invisible admirer (my daughter?) The edition above is illustrated by the amazing Lauren Child of Charlie and Lola fame. Child also illustrated our edition of Pippi Longstocking.

How could they do this to Anne?

As Jezebel writes, the publisher chooses “to ignore that Anne had red hair—which was such an important part of the book. She had red fucking hair!”

Sadly, we’re not done yet with this retroactive sexism. Now, for Virginia Woolf:

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Sorry, even that Rosa Parks stamp can’t make me feel better about this travesty.

 

 

Most annoying girl characters in books

On  kids books: the worst of the worst: Amelia Bedilia and Little Miss Naughty. I actually have a hard time with the entire Little Miss series.

Let me know your thoughts on irritating girl characters. I know some of you aren’t fans of Fancy Nancy (I am) or Eloise.

On sleep: On a happier note, my kids are such great sleepers, I’ve adopted what I taught them “the schedule!” To deal with insomnia, I started turning off my light at exactly the same time every night– 10pm. I’ve been doing this for about a month and sleeping better than I have in years. Part of that may be my kids are all sleeping through the night too. I also used other tips from a book I read on sleep by William Dement, including stopping using the computer and dimming the lights a couple hours before bed.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours has been really nice but not at all a vacation. Looking forward to Monday.