Do you have any board books with female lead characters??

[Judegirl]

I've been careful about this, but as our collection is growing, girls are shrinking from sight. Does anyone know of any board books that feature female characters?

I have these:

Emma's Vacation
Miss Spider's New Car
The Very Busy Spider
Violet's House (not a fan of the Baby Einstein books, though)
The Biscuit and Clifford books - (the dogs are male, but the owners are girls)

Am I missing any?

Thanks very much!
Jude

[jbowman]

Jude--

Maisy is a girl--I mean, she's a mouse, LOL, but she's also a girl! Ellie LOVES this small board book called "Maisy's Favorite Things."

[dowlinal]

Miss Spider's tea party comes to mind.
I love my daddy because (mainly animals but the first and last pages show little girls w/ their dads)

I think we may have a few more, but I'm at work. I'll update my post when I get home.

A

[toomanystrollers]

Jamie Lee Curtis has written several.
Jan Brett too.

[macassi]

I think some of the Olivia books come in boardbooks.

[alkagift]

I was going to say Olivia and Maisy too. DS is currently in love with Maisy. Rosemary Wells draws cute books that feature several characters, two of which are girls--Ruby and Emily. One I remember from my childhood are the Frances books, by Russell and Lillian Hoban. I remember Bread and Jam for Frances and Bedtime for Frances. Frances is a badger or something like that.

There's always Dora, there are board books featuring her as well.

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, who is TWO!

[jbowman]

I love Frances!

[slknight]

Jane's Animal Expedition (Baby Einstein book)
Mama, Do You Love Me? (Barbara Joosse)
The Mitten (Jan Brett)

[Marisa6826]

Maisy
Dora the Explorer
Olivia (she's a pig and is completely hilarious - we bought the books before we even had kids!)
Ella the Elephant
Bread and Jam for Francis
Madeleine books


Those are a few that immediately come to mind

-m

[Judegirl]

Susan, I read the description of The Mitten and it said that the main character was a boy...is that not the case??

Thanks!

[aliceinwonderland]

are there any Alice in Wonderland board books, with, like a chapter or abridged version? Even the original book has some pretty awesome illustrations, anyway (some of which grace my living room)
I have a boy, but I SO hope he'll get into this book, because it is, after all, some of the greatest literature ever published :):)

e.

[TonFirst]

Yep, I have a couple of the Olivia board books. She's definitely a good, strong female character! And, since Ian Falconer, the author, is a cartoonist for The New Yorker, the Olivia books satisfy my literary snobbiness ; )

ETA: OH! I just checked and there are Little House on the Prairie board books!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0694007765/qid=1119379890/sr=8-19/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl14/002-8156937-4372021?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I was absolutely obsessed with the LHotP books when I was little, and I plan on Laura and her family being a strong presence in my sons's literary life.

(Laura, and Anne of Green Gables. A good friend of mine swears that one of the reasons she knew she had to marry her husband was that he read and adored the Anne books when he was growing up.)

[hez]

Yup, it's a boy, with a brief appearance by his grandmother.

Most of it's about animals, though-- the little boy's just there at the start and end.

[amp]

Jane's Animal Expedition (Baby Einstein) - Julie Aigner-Clark

It's a favorite here and is a lift the flap book to boot, which is especially popular in our house!

Maisy books are also favs here!

[slknight]

Oh, oops! For some reason, I thought it was a girl. :o I couldn't find my copy to double-check so I posted from my sleep-deprived memory. Sorry!

[AngelaS]

Not a board book, but The Paper Bag Princess belongs in EVERY little girl's library! It's by Robert Munsch and many of his (except the creepy 'Love you Forever') are awesome books and many have female main characters.

[Phoebe]

I'm a Frances fan too! Still have mine from childhood.

eta: Angelina Ballerina
Gaspard & Lisa books by Anne Gutman
Lily's purple plastic purse by Kevin Henkes
Daisy books (she's a duck)

A favorite of ours right now is "the day the babies crawled away" and in that the child is not identified as boy or girl, so you can make it whatever you want. That book is by the author of Goodnight Gorilla, which is another that works that way - we aren't sure what that little gorilla is.

Also, ask you local children's librarian. I'm sure she has lots of suggestions.

Mary
DD 4/01
DS 6/03

[Momof3Labs]

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Okay, it's not a board book, but the pig is female and so is the girl who entertains her. I love this series - the illustrations are a hoot!

[schums]

This is the most awesome kid's book ever!! It belongs in EVERY childs library. It's about time we start to teach our boys to value strong girls/women too. I bought it for my son earlier this year.

A lot of the Munsch books are more school age focused though. My son really wasn't all that interested in any but the Paper Bag Princess. I figure he'll get more of the stories and humor when he hits elementary school in a lot of the rest of Munsch's stuff.

Sarah
Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

[lizamann]

Noisy Nora!

[ellies mom]

Definately vouching for Olivia here. The first book is now a board book (and way cheaper than the paper version, I might add). There are also Olivia counting and opposite board books. Like Marisa, I discovered Olivia before DD was born, and just love her.

Ellie is a bit older than Rory, but we read her regular books at night before bed. My favorite is called "The Princess Knight" by Cornellia Funke. Very strong lead character. You really should check it out.

[tiapam]

They wouldn't be in board book format but for future consideration, I recommend:

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley
One Riddle, One Answer by Lauren Thompson

They have strong female characters. And more importantly, they are good stories.

-Pam

Charlotte born October 2004

[JElaineB]

We have the "girl" version of Once Upon a Potty. It was a hand me down from DS's cousin. There is a boy version too, but DS doesn't seem too confused that Prudence (the main character) is slightly different anatomically!

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[american_mama]

Oh, my, a MAN who loved Anne of Green Gables? I adore these books, still do. I had a passage from one read at my wedding. A friend used to read one sentence from one of my many, many Anne and other L.M. Montgomery books, and I'd see if I could identify which book it came from. With ten years to go, I am already planning a pre-adolescence mother-daughter bonding trip to Prince Edward Island. I don't know why I love the books, but I do.

[american_mama]

The child character in "I Went Walking" by Sue Williams could be a boy or girl. I call her a girl for both philosophical and practical reasons: I want my daughter to see girls in her storybooks and my 3 year old declared her a girl. It's a good story for Rory's age and comes as a nice, square board book.

I don't know if these are available in English, but there is a series of "Klara" books by Gunilla Hansson about a little girl aged 2-4ish. I think the originals are Swedish, although mine is in German. It's a board book. Titles include "A Baby for Klara," "Klara says no," "Klara wants to play" and "Are you finished, Klara?"

Not exactly a board book, but a book that I adored as a 5 year old and still adore today (and DD likes too) is "The Maggie B." about Maggie who sails a ship for a day with her baby brother James. I believe it comes as a large board book, but I wouldn't recommend it in that format as the illustrations are beautiful and I think many board books crop the illustrations for sizing reasons.

I just remembered Pippi Longstocking, although I don't know if there are any versions of that story for younger kids.

[Mom2Miri]

This compilation is for a slightly older age range (3-14) but does have some books that may be appropriate for a younger book lover:

"Great Books for Girls" by Kathleen Odean (Chair of the 2002 Newbery Award Committee)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345450213/qid=1119422839/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-4445103-8777611?v=glance&s=books

By the way, there are 2 copies at bookcloseouts.com for $4.99 :)
http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?Ntk1=Default&Ntt1=great+books+girls&Ntx1=matchall&Nsl=0&Ix=0&R=0345450213B&Rt=23&Nty1=1

HTH,
Helen & Mirielle 2/25/03

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_sapphire_24m.gif[/img][/url] 27 months and counting

[bunnisa]

Off the top of my head, Tumble Bumble has a lead female Crocodile! Does that count?

The Hat by Jan Brett has a girl lead character. And her books are beautifully illustrated.

Bethany
mom to William 6/03
and another little one due late Feb '06!
http://lilypie.com/days/060226/0/8/1/-6/.png

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I totally agree that all kids should read The Paperbag Princess. I got it for my son when he was young.

It's a message that everyone needs to hear, including some daddies and mommies too. :)

[babymama]

I was going to suggest Mama, Do You Love me? We have this book in Spanish and Santiago loves it - makes me read it several times/day. He hands it to me and says "Mama!"

Also - not a board book, but Mimi's Toes (baby einstein) is a great bath book. Mimi is a girl monkey.


Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03 and
One on the way, due 01/03/06