The Halloween scene probably would never happen that way in real life. Plus, a lot of things that happen to Olivia are largely in her mind, so I’d take it with a grain of salt. I don’t mean to offend anybody, but it’s a way of asserting Olivia’s independence. Does her confidence represent your wish that children resist conformism? Olivia wears basic black, models non-Western princess garb, and stands apart from the throng. The line just sort of came out (no pun intended) and I thought it was funny.

Either they didn’t dare or it’s simply a non-issue now. I thought it was pretty spontaneous, or at least articulate enough to be nonscripted.Īs you wrote this manuscript, did you run into any controversy with editors around Olivia identifying “some of the boys” as wanting to be princesses as well, not unlike the child in My Princess Boy?

She goes on a rant and says, “Why do boys get all these different things? We all have to get pink!” That made me feel very happy. But then I saw a viral video of a little girl filmed by her father in a store, in the pink aisle with all the girl stuff. I started the book about a year ago, and I had some doubts. So the book emerged from my frustration with trying to get some good quality stories and dolls and outfits and things that reflected Olivia more than the standard tutu.Īre you at all nervous about how pink devotees will respond to Olivia’s rejection of such accoutrements? In the first book she does a little ballet thing, but it’s not really her character. Pink doesn’t make sense with Olivia because she is not that kind of creature anyway.

Olivia and the missing toy