In order to complete this assignment, four children’s books were chosen and read. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were chosen to represent traditional children’s literature with The Prince of Egypt and Pocahontas representing contemporary children’s literature. The stories of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty have very similar plots. In both stories, the main character, an attractive young female, encounters a dilemma and must wait for the strapping prince charming to arrive and undo the damage. In Snow White, she is awoken from an evil spell by a kiss from price charming. In Sleeping Beauty, her male companion, Price Phillip, must also awake her from a deep sleep. Both of these stories show a female in distress with her only hope of success coming from a male. These classic stories contribute to the classic stereotyping of females being dependent on males. Not only do they lack reality, but also they do not provide adequate role models for young girls. These two stories are examples of perfect fai

Another contemporary story that includes characters of diverse backgrounds is The Prince of Egypt. This story of Moses comes from the Bible, is put in terms that children can comprehend. Instead of dealing with issues of gender, the book deals with issues of social status and power. Moses realizes that he has been raised as a prince, but is really comes from Hebrew slaves. He leaves behind the power and royalty and marries another peasant. After speaking to God, he sets out to help his people overcome oppression. Such issues as these would have never been touched upon in what many describe as classic children’s literature. The last two examples help to show children that the hero does not always have to be a handsome, white male riding in to save a female on a white horse.

Despite all of the negative portrayals of women in these classics, efforts are being made to make children’s literature more realistic. Both Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt are perfect examples of such efforts. In Pocahontas, the book is named for the female main character

Some topics in this essay:
Prince Egypt, Price Phillip, Snow White, John Smith, Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora, Grandmother Willow, Beauty Aurora, Children’s Literature, Egypt Pocahontas, snow white, children’s literature, sleeping beauty, prince egypt, snow white sleeping, price phillip, john smith, aspect story, male companion, deep sleep, white sleeping, characters diverse backgrounds, white sleeping beauty,