A very obscure Italian/French children's picture book classic, which to me seems to have been heard of only by people who have read 'Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading' by Lucy Mangan (how lucky is she to have owned so many books in her childhood?).
'Candy Pink' (or 'Sugarpink Rose' in some English translations) is one of the earliest books about gender equality made for children, in the seventies. And I think it does its job well.
In elephant country, girl elephants are segregated from boy elephants, and are only fed a diet of anemones and peonies so that they turn pink with bright eyes, and therefore pretty and desirable for marriage material for the boys. They are also given pink and fluffy clothes and accessories.
While the girls are under this social - and unhealthy - pressure, within their small fenced enclosure, the boys are free to play, run, muck about in the mud and water, and lie under trees in the open country.
One social outcast girl elephant might be the first stepping stone towards rebellion and freedom for all girl elephants. Towards them no longer being made into safeguarded commodities in their society.
Break down the walls, the fences, the system!
The only real issue I have with 'Candy Pink' is that Daisy, the girl elephant who is different outside of her control and is supposedly the main character, isn't much of a character. She's more of a rebel placeholder. The book spends a lot of time at the beginning explaining its world and how its gender dynamics work, and then nearly halfway through we are introduced to Daisy, who tries to fit it but can't because she can't turn pink no matter how many flowers she eats, and then her parents give up and let her alone, and then she decides to walk out of her enclosure and join the boy elephants in their fun, and soon the other tenacious, scandalized-turned-frightened-turned-envious girl elephants follow her example. No one is pink anymore. And that's how an oppressive system collapses, apparently.
Is there an allegory for transgender people's experiences in here as well? Probably unintentional, but very interesting.
'Candy Pink' is more of a moral and metaphor played out than a story with characters to connect to, but it works. Anyone can read it and enjoy it and take to heart its message. Any feminist children's book, any feminist classic book, is a must-read for me, and I'm glad to know its existence, and that it holds a prominent, pink place on my bookshelf.
It absolutely needs more universal attention and recognition. Every child needs to read it.
And it's cute and contains soft and colourful illustrations.
'And ever since then, it's been hard to tell the difference between boy elephants and girl elephants.'
Happy 600th Artemis Crescent review, too.
Final Score: 4/5
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