Purplicious

Despite the negative feedback, I decided to try out Purplicious. The name, as with Pinkalicious, was too cute to resist. I want to address some of the negative feedback from other buyers with my opinion. Some of the complaints came from parents of children under 5. If you use the "look inside" feature, you will see that the book is geared for 5-8 year olds. My 3 year old enjoyed the book; however, I am sure she does not fully understand the moral behind the story yet. One response said "the mean girls don't even learn a lesson in the end." Well, that is a life lesson. Not every mean person learns a lesson. THAT is a lesson for the person being hurt. The lesson is that people are mean and you just have to ignore them, be yourself, and move on. The book does have a negative tone and there are low points to Pinkalicious' feelings. However, many people have those feelings and do not know how to handle them. This book allows a child to learn that many people have down moments but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, there are phrases like, "pink stinks", "pink is for babies", "pink ice cream is for sissies." So what!? Kids say these words and worse every day. It is a nice way to introduce things your kids will eventually hear in an environment in which parents can advise them on how to handle those types of words. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I will recommend it to anyone. It is not a happy-go-lucky, feel-good story. It is a story about personal preferences, how mean people can be, and how to be yourself!!! How can a story with that premise be so bad?!

My daughter and I love Pinkalicious and were delighted to find Purplicious. We were a little surprised to find sparkly Pinkalicious having such a rough time, but it was a wonderful opportunity to talk about kind and unkind behavior, the value of individuality, and what a treat it can be to meet new people. Unfortunately my kindergarten daughter is already experiencing a lot of the behavior described in Purplicious and I was glad to see a character that she already loved having similar experiences. Because it was so exaggerated and the message was so clear, it has given me and my daughter a very useful vocabulary for talking about how she's feeling. We can also talk about how treating others the way that Pinkalicious was affects them. The appearance of Purplicious was a nice way of showing my daughter how important kindness is, even when it seems so small. We still love Purplicious. My son loves Purplicious. We read it just as often as Pinkalicious. And I'm really looking forward to Goldilicious.

I absolutely LOVED the message of this book. It shows that you should always be yourself and not follow trends or peer pressure. I must admit that I read this one before Pinkalicious, so maybe coming into it without expectation, I viewed it as a wonderful teaching tool on how children should be true to themselves (a theme that shows up often in my own work.) In real life, the mean kids may not change. The only thing children can change is their view of themselves, which this book underscores. So, yay for Purplelicious! A wonderful title to add to my collection!

I am so sad to see all the negative reviews on this book. The first time I read both Pinkalicious and Purplicious to my three year old daughter I was concerned about the words used and subject matter. In both cases, the book has opened up great discussions with this little person who understands more than we realize and needs help forming her opinions and actions when faced with mean girls, bad words and too many cupcakes! Hiding our children from situations they will most likely face does not protect them. I wish I could protect my girls from all the bad things that happen out there but we all know that is not reality. So why not start to introduce them to these moments through a little girl they have learned to love.

The Kann sisters' "Purplicious" is a brilliantly illustrated and written book which allows a child to face diversity, experience the kind of feelings that real girls (and boys) feel when they are different, and go through the steps of integreting that unique personality through friendship and opening up oneself to sharing. Girls and parents and teachers should applaud the Kanns for creating a character that everyone can relate to, who experiences the kinds of problems children actually experience in schools. Children DO tease each other and single out those who aren't "cool" or following the herd. It celebrates independence while showing that the road to staying true to oneself is not necessarily an easy one. The world is not perfect, and we are doing a disservice to our children by showing only rainbows and hearts and children who are always kind to each other. This book should be required reading, both for its charming illustrations and for its intelligence. When we fell in love with Pinkalicious, we adopted her as our own. Now we have an opportunity to see our beloved girl facing the kinds of difficulties we all face, especially in school. We owe this book to our children; I was so grateful to have a chance to open up a discussion to my young ones about individuality and peaceful ways to accept the sometimes hurtful things that children might say to each other, often out of fear of standing out... in language and visuals that they could understand. Verbal/mental bullying is one of the most significant problems in our schools today, and children go into the world unprepared for it. We are looking at a new and brilliant generation of children's books; I am truly grateful for this series, and am looking forward to the next installment. I think we will have the opportunity to see Pinkalicious go through many of the trials and tribulations that real girls go through, and can serve as a guide for the wonderful unpredictable world of growing up.