THE FEMINIST'S GUIDE TO RAISING A LITTLE PRINCESS

The tale of “a small and very cute princess-obsessed little girl and a mother who learned how to Let It Go.”

Before New York Times parenting columnist Blachor had children, she was convinced she would never let any daughter she had become a girly girl who was absolutely consumed with the color pink and with the traditional Disney-fied portrayal of what a girl should be. Then her daughter, Mari, turned 3 and became obsessed with everything the author wanted to avoid. With a certain amount of mortification, Blachor watched her daughter transform, and she learned certain lessons about parenthood along the way. “There was a lesson to learn if I could only suspend my princess and pink resistance long enough to pay attention to more meaningful issues,” she writes. “There was an opportunity to figure something out about parenthood and my need to control.” Blachor's descriptions of what happened with Mari are primarily tongue-in-cheek, but she does include a hefty portion of seriousness as she ponders the ramifications for girls and women who embrace the beauty-fashion-color ideals readily portrayed in social media, news media, and particularly through the Disney franchise. By analyzing her daughter's clear obsession, the author was able to identify the points that bothered her the most and begrudgingly and humorously came to grips with them. She shares her insights in a variety of methods, often through lists under the titles "opposite of serious” or "interesting little princess facts." Readers who have a little girl infatuated with pink or who wants to be a princess will enjoy Blachor's uneven but pleasant book for its humor and the understanding that they are not the only ones dealing with similar situations. A final chapter presents a survey featuring a series of teenage perspectives from “young women who once identified as ‘princess-obsessed little girls.’ ”

Humor abounds in this semicheeky examination of the pink world of princesses and little girls.