My Princess
Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis is a children’s picture book written by a mom who
has a pink boy. The author was inspired by her son who loves the color pink,
dresses, tiara’s and sparkly things. This picture book also explains her own struggles to
understand her son and appreciate his difference. This was also a great book
about unconditional love and a great family that goes towards the Princess Boy's happiness. My Princess Boy also discusses
things like tolerance and an end to bullying and judgments. It describes how
the world is a brighter place if we only accept everyone for who they are.
Reading this book and having prior knowledge from class
discussions and readings about gender, I was really motivated to introduce this
book to my group of second graders. I wanted to carry out this picture book and
receive their reactions from this author’s perspective about her son. I was
also motivated to do an art project that consisted of making their own little
character out of paper and decorative materials. During this project I was
going more towards their reaction of a before and after response. While reading
this story I got complete silence and stares by simply reading the title. They
were extremely puzzled and confused by the title but no one seemed to say
anything about their confusion. While continuing onto the next few pages they
couldn’t stop giggling at the things that the Princess Boy liked to do. After
the first three pages one of the students couldn’t help but to just ask why? I
asked my own questions which was why not or why are you guys giggling? Their answer
was very simple as to boys do not do that. This was the response these kids
gave and how they wouldn’t want to be the Princess Boy’s friend because then
everyone else wouldn’t want to be their friend either. These second graders had
a main concern during the first half of the story. Yet, that immediately started
to change towards the end because they immediately saw the emotional side to
the Princess Boy’s story. These students grew more concerned towards the Princess
Boy’s feelings rather than the physical difference. This is what made them change their mind because they actually received an emotional side to the story.
Creating the art project at the end of the book was just amazing
to see the different results. They all accomplished to make their own character
with a little twist of their own. They all felt great to create characters made
as friends and have a goal to accept one another’s difference. They were also
reflecting on some judgmental situations that grow with the concept of
respecting one another for a better environment. Overall, we managed to grow
our classroom for a better character to respect one another for who we are. You
guys may press the link below to see our version of the story of Our Day with the Princess Boy! Enjoy!
I wonder if the boys really understood the concept of the story and if they had the opportunity to befriend someone who society viewed as different, would they? I have a girl scout troop of 25 pre-teen girls and have noticed that while we discuss things such as bullying and they all make great arguments against it and seem to comprehend how it can hurt people, that they still resist stepping in when they witness it and even sometimes say hurtful things to other kids under the pretense of "joking." They know what is viewed by society as abnormal, and while they know it is not nice to single people out, I think they still feel odd stepping outside of societal norms, especially as adolescents.
ReplyDeleteThe boys really did understand the concept. In fact they were more involved in the story than the girls. It was also very surprising how many of the girls didn't really like all the colors in the book. I really think these second graders appreciated the book more because it introduced them to an emotional story. Most books only talk about cause and effect but this book digs much deeper into the concept of accepting each others differences. Overall, the results were great even if their was confusion and puzzled faces in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved your project. Just so so much. This is actual field work, and its going to make a beautiful difference in the understanding of the world for these children in such a great way.
ReplyDeleteYour project was absolutely great and i thought i was lovely how you include your second graders into the project to get their viewpoint on this book. I think you really did a great job and it is hard for little kids to understand issues that you brought up and you did a great job presenting it to them.
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