Aussie mum Samantha Turnbull takes on US princesses with her Anti-Princess Club series
ONE Australian mum is set to take her anti-princess message to the US this month with the international release of her best-selling series.
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ONE Australian mum is set to take her anti-princess message to the US this month with the international release of her best-selling series.
Author Samantha Turnbull’s The Anti-Princess Club series, quickly became bestsellers when they were released in Australia last year.
The books, aimed at pre-teens aged between seven and 11, tell the stories of four girls who are all interested in things typically expected of boys; Emily is great at maths and computers, Bella loves building, Grace is an athlete and Chloe loves science.
Turnbull, who is also an award-winning journalist, blogger and slam poet, began writing the series after she had her own daughter, Liberty, and discovered that everything from girl’s nappies to the hospital’s own documentation had a picture of a princess on them.
“I loved to dress up and play princess when I was young — and my six-year-old daughter also loves it,” Turnbull told news.com.au. “But don’t let that be all that you do. Play princess, but make sure you’re still climbing trees, doing science experiments, playing soccer, building things — no one is one-dimensional even if some marketers seem to think so.
Turnbull says she believes the anti-princess message is going to be particularly well received in the US, even though the country invented Disney princesses.
“(The US is) becoming the home of the anti-princess movement,” she said. “Peggy Orenstein’s Cinderella Ate My Daughter was a bestseller and was followed up by Rebecca Hains’ awesome The Princess Problem. Those are both successful and interesting books by parents who were worried about ‘princess mania.’ My books are the antidote and actually give children an alternative and show them that it’s OK to be different.”
The first two books in the series, Emily’s Tiara Trouble and Bella’s Backyard Bullies have gone on sale in the US this month with Grace’s Dance Disaster and Chloe’s River Rescue set for release in the US in October.
Originally published as Aussie mum Samantha Turnbull takes on US princesses with her Anti-Princess Club series