ABSTRACT
Gender is a central defining feature of people in our society. The central problem that children face in understanding and accepting non-traditional messages, is to know how a person who acts outside of what is commonly understood as appropriate for their gender, can be recognized as expanding what is positively available to other like-gendered people. The Paper Big Princess is about the beautiful Princess Elizabeth who plans to marry Prince Ronald. She lives in her castle and has expensive princess clothes. The delight for adults in The Paper Bag Princess lies in Elizabeth’s capacity to turn the tables on Ronald and skip happily off into the sunset. Sebastian, Robbie and Katy, whose mothers do not work, all thought that Oliver should do boy things and Sebastian and Katy believe he should do as his father tells him whether he likes it or not.
