GIRLS CAN BE ANYTHING

by Norma Klein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 1973

Girls Can Be Anything . . . as Marina insists to kindergarten friend Alan who wants her to be nurse to his doctor, stewardess to his pilot, and just plain wife to his President. Adam gives in when Marina explains (after checking with her parents) that there are women doctors and pilots, and when Golds Meir and Indira Gandhi are cited as leaders of important countries the children decide that they will both be Presidents and fly each other from place to place to give speeches. ""Then there was a big Presidential dinner with potato chips, Coca-Cola, lollipops, marshmallows, Juicy Fruit gum and Tootsie Rolls for dessert. Both Presidents thought it was delicious."" Though they never get around to the all important question of who will do the dishes, Alan aptly demonstrates the insidious ease with which sexist assumptions are perpetuated (""That's just the way it goes. . . . Girls are always nurses and boys are always doctors"") and Marina sets a healthy example as she sets him straight. (Perhaps though she should also work on raising the consciousness of Mr. Doty, whose living room scene of father with his newspaper and mother with her needlework invests their discussion of Meir and Gandhi with some unintended irony.)

Pub Date: Feb. 22, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1973

Categories: CHILDREN'S