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Daily writing prompt
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
When I was growing up in the 70s, there were not many exciting female book characters. There was Pippi Longstocking, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Heidi, Jo March from Little Women, and the dutiful daughters of The Little House on the Prairie series.
I wasn’t a tomboy like Jo or a sleuth like Nancy, and I didn’t want to be a nurse like Cherry, or be motherless like Pippi or Heidi. And the prairie sisters (though I loved them) had far too many chores.
That leaves all the princesses, witches and bitches, plus the occasional fun nanny, and a fairy or two.
Ugh. No good choices here.
Honestly, maybe Tinkerbell is the best choice. At least she could fly and was a bit naughty – when she wasn’t in her cage.
50 Happens 
What about Meg from A Wrinkle in Time? She leads her brother and her friend across the universe to rescue her father. When I read that book in the late 60s, I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever read. As you noted, not many choices then.
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Nobody gave me that one! Too bad. Though I was never a big fantasy/sci fi fan.
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We had the same references to draw from! Did you ever do Pippi for Halloween? I still remember the feeling of the wire through my braids. 🙂
Tinkerbell is a good one, and I love that you had your guard up about overly dutiful models. I hadn’t really considered this, but it’s true.
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Yes, so funny! I had the wire in my braids and the freckles. Pippi was actually great, but no mom! All the truly interesting girls were motherless. I wonder why that was?
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It might be the only way fairy tales had of making a very young girl rise to be the hero of her life?
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Right! And it removes the main enforcer of the dutiful daughter role, thereby making the girl more interesting. The dads never gave a F*** !
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Right!!
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I say fairy tales, but really mean stories. The origins feel the same though.
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Tinker Bell is a good one. She’s just a little spicy and just a little sweet.✨
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They came out with a Nancy Drew series a few years ago. I never read the books when I was younger, I think I read the Hardy Boys instead. But the series has a lot about the super natural. I was surprised. I am assuming that was different from the books and a way to bring it to be more current. Oh, yeah. She hooks up with a few guys, too. Probably not the same as the books.
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Yup, boys read Hardy Boys and girls read Nancy Drew. I never saw the TV series. Interesting that they brought it back in recent years. I loved the Little House on the Prairie TV series, but that was very shortly after the books.
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I was thinking along the same lines. It is hard to pick a fictional female character.
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Annie Oakley was fun. I liked her fashion choice. And I would have made a terrific Pocahontas because of my long hair always in a braid.
I recently read an article about the lack of female heroines in children’s books written by a PhD candidate. It’s in my “don’t know where I’ve put it”pile, but I know “I have it in my somewhere” section.
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Oh, yes! I was in the musical “Annie Get Your Gun” in high school, but I never read the book. “Anything you Can Do I Can Do Better” was my favorite song. Annie kicked ass 🤠
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