Embodying an Image: Gender and Genre in a Selection of Children's Responses to Picturebooks and Illustrated Texts (review)

Sarah Toomey's Embodying an Image is an illuminating investigation of how children perceive masculine and feminine identities through the images conveyed in a vast array of picture books. She organizes her book into three sections: "Vampires, Witches and Monsters"; "Princesses, Pirates and Female Adventurers"; and "Bears, Wolves and Dragons." Toomey expertly weaves her amusing and insightful conversations and interviews with children, as well as her own observations, into the already sizable tapestry of picture book theory that exists today, and no doubt her research will contribute greatly to this area of study.

She starts with horror, an area that has become increasingly popular, even among the very young. In her analysis of children's responses to vampire stories, Toomey highlights how children expect vampires' villainous and grotesque behavior to be predominantly a male characteristic, and much confusion can arise when this gender stereotype is challenged. Witches, however, present young readers with more complex horror icons as they can be perceived as either comical or frightening, and sometimes both. Through her interactions with individual children, Toomey explores the ambiguous figure of the witch in children's stories and the conflicting portrayals of femininity she embodies, from the seductive and spiritual sorceress to the wild, savage, and often ugly outsider, as well as the fantastical desires she represents.

No study of children's responses to gender in books would be complete without a look at female role models, from the "perfect princess" to the feisty female pirate and the girl-adventurer. Toomey's encounter with one girl's response to a Barbie Princess picture book brings up the issue of defining high-quality children's literature, as well as appropriate female role models. The predictable mention of Barbie's iconic yet unrealistic image is made as well as the argument that such sugar-coated retellings of fairy tales suppress the original culture, history, and class struggles of such stories.

Also examined in this section of the book is the relationship between the Bratz dolls and young girls, shown through one girl's engagement with a Bratz picture book. While ultimately more individual and independent than Barbie, the Bratz dolls, according to Toomey, present a provocative and highly sexualized image. Toomey argues that Bratz dolls introduce adult sexuality into the sheltered space of childhood. Toomey goes on to question whether Bratz dolls are in fact better role models than Barbie for impressionable young girls.

Looking at pirate stories, Toomey argues that replacing one gender stereotyped image (the male macho pirate) with another (the domestic woman), which occurs in Mrs. Pirate, usually only serves to confuse young children about gender. Toomey also notes that the depiction of stereotypical gender behavior in children's literature and media, and in this case inaccurate historical portrayal of pirates as solely male, leads to the often-rigid gender ideologies children adopt in the first place.

Toomey moves on to examine the occurrence and nature of heroines in children's adventure stories. She suggests that reading and looking at adventure books can be a disappointing experience for girls as the main protagonist is usually male, and when female leads do appear, they are often confined to traditionally feminine characteristics and ways of acting—kind, compassionate, and self-sacrificing. As these traits, though typically female, are not negative, Toomey debates whether such books are transcending gender roles by having female adventurers at all or simply keeping female power in check.

Similar issues are brought up in the final section of the book, which focuses on animals in picture books. Toomey points out that traditional fairy tales that feature animals, such as Little Red Riding Hood, may have a profound effect on children's subconscious ideas of gender, as there is an accepted notion of the female victim (Red Riding Hood) in danger due to, often, male aggression (the wolf) and dependent on...