The Ladies Who Influenced My Childhood

Happy International Women's Day! Since the majority of my readers are female (the majority being the two of my sisters who read my blog v. the one male reader) (hi Brent) I wanted to do a female-centric post today. I'll be honest though, I don't know the origins of this holiday or why we celebrate it on March 8th. Nothing a little Google search can't fix.

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Right, there we go. Now I'm properly informed and can write this post in good conscience.

Just kidding, this is a blog post, not a PhD dissertation, and the minute I start researching posts is the minute this thing becomes work instead of a hobby. All opinions are my own and I don't need to be well informed to know what I like. The following ladies (real and fictitious) added hours and hours of enjoyment to my childhood and deserve a shout-out. 

Matilda Wormwood 

Roald Dahl is my all-time favorite author. We had a lot of his books growing up and I read and reread my favorites dozens of times; Matilda is definitely one of the best. I wasn't thinking phrases like "positive role model" and "strong female character" when I was reading this 20+ years ago, but I was thinking about how much I wanted to be like Matilda. She was brilliant and courageous and stood up to the injustices of the world, like her crook father and Miss Trunchbull. 

Ann M. Martin

To put it succinctly, Ann M. Martin was my childhood. I read the Little Sister series first, and even though I didn't like Karen Brewer that much, I was so excited to move on to the Baby-Sitter's Club series because my sisters read them (and because Karen wouldn't be a main character anymore). Don't ask me who my favorite was, because it was constantly rotating (except Mallory, we all agreed Mallory was the lamest). We had a massive Ann M. Martin collection, dog eared paperbacks that ended up missing the covers or the last chapter, that we would have to rent from the library to read the conclusion, because we read them over and over and over again. 

Polly Pocket

She's tiny, she's organized, she has the coolest hangouts; what little girl didn't love Polly? I even had the Polly Pocket board game; I can't tell you the object of the game or how to win, but I remember getting all my cases out whenever I made one of my sisters play with me. I didn't have a huge Polly Pocket collection, but the ones I did have were treasured commodities. 

Mulan

If you know me at all, you know I'm ride-or-die Ariel. But on International Women's Day, I wanted to pick a stronger female lead that never got the play she deserved. This movie is hilarious, it has a great voice cast, and the songs are up there with some of Disney's best. Mulan herself is fierce; I remember watching Mulan and thinking, whoa, this girl is different! She's brave and independent and cares about her family over some dude; you don't find a girl like that every dynasty (or, as my friend thought the emperor was saying, every "dinas day", whatever that is). 

Scout Finch

Another female lead I envied because she was everything I wanted to be: smart, scrappy, bold. Jean Louise wasn't afraid to be a tomboy in her prim and proper Southern world. To Kill A Mockingbird is my favorite book, one I read every few years, always taking away something new and remembering why I love Scout so much.