Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Book Review: Every-Day Dress-Up by Selina Alko


By: Selina Alko
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
Released on: October 11th, 2011
Source: book from publisher to review
Ages: 4 & up
3.5 stars: It's A Good Read
Purchase from: Amazon

It's no secret that little girls love playing dress up, but the little girl in this book ditches her princess duds in favor of costumes inspired by great women in history.

Now dressing up is an adventure
When, every day of the week,
I am a daring new dame!

From Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to chef extraordinaire Julia Child to queen of jazz Ella Fitzgerald, our protagonist pays homage to the women who came before her and imagines herself in their shoes. Maybe someday she'll inspire little girls with her own gown of greatness.
-quoted from Goodreads

Being a mother of a little girl who loves to dress up, I loved the concept of this book. The little girl dresses up each of the week and pretends to go on the adventures of the prestige women she's pretending to be. While as I grown up, I knew who these amazing women are, they were totally lost to my little girl. Young girls would know more about these women than young preschool aged girls. I do love the concept that dress can be more than just Disney princesses. I'm a little torn on how to recommend this book. It's geared towards preschool aged kids, yet the content of the book is more of girls in elementary school. I like that the respected women through out history who are mentioned in this story are included in a biography in the back of the book.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~