Intersectional princesses for the little feminists in your life

It’s a rare day that I take time to promote princesses, but these are no ordinary royalty I’m writing about today. The Guardian Princess Alliance is a series of educational books about a group of racially and gender diverse princesses who take action to protect living beings and the planet for future generations. Basically, they’re like Feministing for elementary school kids. (Did anyone else just feel a shiver of excitement run up their spine?)

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Each princess serves as a guardian of a different natural resource and their stories address issues like food justice, displacement and land rights, and air pollution, all within a different cultural context. You heard that right: these are culturally and racially diverse books about justice issues that actually affect children today, all with women as the superheroes. Raise your hand if you had anything half as cool to read in school, ’cause I know I didn’t.

The latest Guardian Princess is named Ten Ten, a young mixed heritage girl from East Asia. She’s gender independent and likes to wear her hair short and practice martial arts, which are traditionally meant for boys. In her story, she fights not only air pollution, but gender norms, like many young feminists today.

If you celebrate holidays this winter, and those involve giving gifts, I’d encourage you to look into the Guardian Princess Alliance for any youngins in your life. Consider it an investment in our future: the more of these books get out there, the more young people will grow up to be intersectional, feminist change makers.

For people parenting in Spanish, be sure to check out their Spanish series.

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