Trying to think of other children's books from the same-ish period with a similar ratio
I can't come up with children's books from *this* period with a similar ratio. It's really impressive.
Yes, I think a George and Nancy comparison would be quite interesting, but I'd have to re-read FF - anyway, I'd like to make a distinction between George, who's more or less a hollow tom-boy character, as predictable as any other of the characters who become "the girl," (Ditto with Anne, who has none of Susan's power.) and Nancy, who's really her own person and exerts as much influence over the group as John does, often more. George sort-of responds to sexism within the books, but Nancy and Peggy really do. There's a scene in Peter Duck where Peter Duck says something about a man and a couple of boys could take the Wild Cat anywhere, and Nancy, Peggy, and Titty are both like Hey!
I also think, but I can't quite remember, that there's a scene where Nancy is scornful of someone who thinks she's a boy - it might be in Great Northern - and that's quite an illuminating comparison to George, who wants people to think she's a boy. When people don't think Nancy's a girl (and by GN she must be sixteen at least, so...) Nancy recognises it as being an assumption about what girls and boys are interested in, whereas George is thrilled by it.
Yes, I'm definitely going to fill my shelves with them when I reproduce!
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Date: 2008-09-07 07:43 pm (UTC)I can't come up with children's books from *this* period with a similar ratio. It's really impressive.
Yes, I think a George and Nancy comparison would be quite interesting, but I'd have to re-read FF - anyway, I'd like to make a distinction between George, who's more or less a hollow tom-boy character, as predictable as any other of the characters who become "the girl," (Ditto with Anne, who has none of Susan's power.) and Nancy, who's really her own person and exerts as much influence over the group as John does, often more. George sort-of responds to sexism within the books, but Nancy and Peggy really do. There's a scene in Peter Duck where Peter Duck says something about a man and a couple of boys could take the Wild Cat anywhere, and Nancy, Peggy, and Titty are both like Hey!
I also think, but I can't quite remember, that there's a scene where Nancy is scornful of someone who thinks she's a boy - it might be in Great Northern - and that's quite an illuminating comparison to George, who wants people to think she's a boy. When people don't think Nancy's a girl (and by GN she must be sixteen at least, so...) Nancy recognises it as being an assumption about what girls and boys are interested in, whereas George is thrilled by it.
Yes, I'm definitely going to fill my shelves with them when I reproduce!