When I was coming up with ideas for a companion book to my 2014 release Paint Me! (Sky Pony Press), I looked back through some old unfinished manuscripts for inspiration. I had a couple of dress up books that weren’t quite working, so my agent suggested that I do another “me” book with a dress up theme. Brilliant!
As the mother of three girls, I’ve read lots and lots of dress up books to my daughters. And most of them are very princess-y, fluffy, and sparkly. Now there’s nothing wrong with little girls getting dressed up. It’s fun. I get it. And I love a party dress just as much as the next girl ... it just seemed like many of the dress up books on the shelves showed girls trying really hard to *look* pretty. They didn’t show little girls trying to express themselves in other ways--ways that showed girls *doing* things. And they didn’t show girls happy just being themselves.
To make it worse, when I talked to my friends who are parents of boys, they gushed about filling their boys’ toy chests with super hero outfits, doctor scrubs, and hard hats. Most of my friends with daughters haunted the sales racks after Halloween for leftover princess ball gowns, tiaras, and boas.
So I wanted to create a book that encouraged little girls to expand their dress up repertoire and to have fun experimenting with who they can be instead of how they look.
In DRESS ME!, my main character goes through many transformations, from wearing a monster mask to trying out different careers (and yes, sporting a mustache!) before getting all glammed up.
Thank you so very much for having me on your blog.
Sarah Frances
About Sarah Frances:
Sarah Frances Hardy is a children’s author, illustrator, and professional painter. A former lawyer, Hardy studied art at the Parsons School of Design and has had her paintings featured in galleries and commercial establishments. She is the author and illustrator of two books: Puzzled by Pink (Houghton Mifflin) and Paint Me! (Sky Pony Press). Hardy lives with her husband and three daughters in Oxford, Mississippi.
Please visit her website at www.sfhardy.com.
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