Finding Feminist Undertones in Children's Books no.1/2

Our now 20 month old has fully discovered books and loves us reading them to her. There are ones requested time and time again - currently The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. And as ever I like to read a little too much between the lines. The Gruffalo's Child, for example, could be seen as a positive example in challenging traditional gender stereotypes. We have the gruffalo who we now discover is a dad and, what's more, a single dad at that. There's our first gender stereotype challenged. Next is the gruffalo's child who goes out alone into the wild on the search for the 'big bad mouse' (apologies for the plot spoiler...) - this child (who is described as 'brave') is the gruffalo's daughter. Take that gender stereotyping of boys as brave and fearless! On an equally pleasing note was an extract from a Peppa Pig book in which someone makes a comment about women not being very good at archery - which Mummy Pig challenges and proves wrong. There is some good in Peppa Pig after all...