A series called “Guardian Princesses” is releasing a new book about an environmental activist gender-nonconforming princess — that can be used to supplement the new Common Core educational standards.
The new princess, named “Ten Ten,” will be “the first-ever gender-independent princess” who “refuses to wear dresses” and “has short messy hair.”
“Because of Princess Ten Ten’s gender non-conformity, she is bullied by other children and even her own father rejects her,” a crowdfunding page for the book explains.
Since just one liberal-activism issue is apparently not enough, the story is also intended to raise “awareness about the global impact of fossil-fuel-dependent economies.”
The series has already published three books, and Ten Ten’s (available on December 10) will be one of four new ones out this month.
“We seek to promote greater racial, cultural, and gender inclusivity,” says the company’s mission statement. “We expand the cultural representation of beauty by including different-size princesses and princes, as well as those with disabilities.”
It gets even better: Guardian Princesses also provides Common Core–tied educational supplements to the books (such as discussion questions and etymology), encouraging teachers to use them in their classrooms.
“Our books are designed to help support teachers and parents with the new Common Core educational standards,” the website explains.
Unsurprisingly, blogs on the Feminist Internet, such as Feministing, seem very excited about the series:
“Basically, they’re like Feministing for elementary school kids,” Feministing blogger Juliana Britto Schwartz raved in a post this week
Schwartz seems particularly excited about Princess Ten Ten:
“In her story, she fights not only air pollution, but gender norms, like many young feminists today,” she raves.
The series was created Setsu Shigematsu, a University of California, Riverside professor.
— Katherine Timpf is a reporter at National Review Online.