The End

I recently published my first edited book,  Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology ,  with  Small Harbor Publishing . It's an anthology of writing from  Literary Mama  staff over the past 20 years. It's a beautiful collection and I am proud of the writers and proud to share the book.  It seems a fitting moment, as I pondered sharing about the book here on the blog, to reflect on my life as a blogger, and acknowledge that it is time to officially end this blog.   I started blogging in about 2007, when my baby was learning to toddle, when I was learning how to be a mother and stepmother, when I was just starting to see my way as a writer. I needed it back then. I craved it. I had a variety of blog iterations--family, art, creativity, writing things I delved into. There's a freedom in blogging, a casualness, an easy familiarity that's lacking (for me anyway) in other kinds of writing. I loved blogging and the words came pouring out.  Ove...
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The Paper Bag Princess

I am a child of the 70's and 80's. By the time I became a young adult, I thought many many of the things I grew up with were gone forever- classic cartoons, favorite toys with forgotten names, and the best cereal in the world that I distinctly remember eating at my 2nd grade best friend's house the morning after one of my first sleepovers. I assumed these things no longer existed. 

I also read loads of books that I thought I would never see again. I had this tiny little set of books, about as big as an iPod Nano. One of those little books was The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It was a book that you read as a kid, know is special, and read over and over. So, imagine my delight when I found this childhood memory at the Library Booksale.

The Paper Bag Princess is an awesome book for girls. It is about Prince Ronald who gets kidnapped by a dragon. The dragon smashes the castle and burns everything up, including the Princess, Elizabeth's, clothes. She finds a paper bag to wear and decides she is going to get Ronald back. Elizabeth follows the dragon's smoke trail to find his lair and works to outsmart the dragon.

Finally, Elizabeth exhausts the dragon and opens the cave door to save Ronald. To which she is greeted by Ronald's ungrateful disgust at the messy state of his future bride.

And here's the part that seeped in for me as a child- Elizabeth tells Ronald off. She stands up for herself and says she won't marry a bum like him.

The story is short, to the point, and packs a big punch. It is a perfect picture book in that it takes one simple story, gives it a twist, and ends with the one conflict being resolved in an empowering way. In one sentence the story delights, makes us dig deeper than the surface, and offers a new way of looking at the world. A way that I took to heart as a young girl.

Maybe some of the childhood cereals and toys are gone, but I am pretty sure the stories remain. The good ones always do.

Comments

Unknown said…
I found the mini version of this book in a big chain bookstore here in Toronto. My daughter and I love it. Great message for girls!
October 18, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Sue Heavenrich said…
one of my all-time favorite books!
October 20, 2013 at 4:03 PM
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