Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher

The book Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher states, "All parents accept and reject some of their children's behaviors and teach children to sacrifice some wholeness to social acceptability" (Pipher 37). Parents mirror society's wishes for their children. Generations of parents telling their kids "be good", "be quiet", "now, is that the proper thing to do?" create what we believe is a good or bad child. When those children shirk parental guidelines, as most children do, we consider them bad. When a boy gets out of line most parents think, "Well, boys will be boys". When a girl goes outside of her parent's or society's rules she gets crushed. Her parents chide her, her peers tease her and those around her click their tongues and turn away. In choosing my theme for my paper it was the heroines that stood out in my mind. Heroic girls who refuse to let a society tell them what they should be like. It might have been Pippi Longstocking's lack of parents, Laura Ingalls' pioneer spirit, or Catherine's unwillingness to marry someone she wasn't going to be happy with; but they spoke to me. In hearing them I heard not only the characters, but all girls as they turn into women. It seems there is an age where the Pippis and the Catherines of the world get swallowed. The authors of Pippi Longstocking, Catherine, Called Birdy, and Little House on the Prairie capture these girls in the stage before they disappear into what Pipher calls a "false-self". We see in each novel however, even at the age they are, they are being groomed into society's way of thinking a woman should be.

I created my picture book using scenes from Catherine, Called Birdy. I thought her forward thinking about her forthcoming marriage was a perfect illustration of my point. I was influenced by Molly Bang's use of shapes and by Olivia's author Ian Falconer and his use of color to show outside influences working upon the character.

Going against what society thinks you should do can cause quite a stir in a household. All of our heroines try to be good girls but their forward thinking keeps getting in the way. Catherine believes she should be able to marry who she wishes and will stop at nothing to prove that.

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