W.H.R.G. 4-Ever
Aw yeah.
It seems that I have been voted president of a new sorority of sorts. Try not to be too jealous. I am the High Queen of the freshly-minted Wind Horse Riding Girls.
Let me repeat that for y'all in the back. Wind. Horse. Riding. Girls.
And I've got the t-shirt to prove it.
Let me back up a bit and explain. When I was little girl, I read the entire Trixie Belden series, one after another. I loved every single one of them. Now that my oldest enjoys having chapter books read aloud, I thought that pulling out ole Trixie would be fun for both of us.
My girl is obsessed. She loves her some Belden. We snuggle up at night and read a few chapters, and she hangs on every word. We just finished the third book, which features the formation of a club, and includes descriptions of club shirts and jackets that one of the members is going to embroider, thereby demonstrating her useful and feminine skills with a needle and thread, and gaining the approval of the male members of the club.
This is also the book that features extensive use of the name "Dick" for one of the characters, and refers to pickpockets as "dips" and also calls detectives "dicks" and oh my GOD between all the dicks and dips I was fighting the urge to snicker like an eight-year-old for the entire book. Lucky for me, my seven-year-old doesn't have any associations with the word "dick" yet. Whew!
I mean, okay. The gender stereotyping is a little annoying, and the fact that my daughter now calls her jeans "dungarees" is weird, and the obsession with being wealthy is not exactly what I'm looking to teach, but overall, there is a lot to love about the spunky Trixie. First and foremost is the horses. The kids ride horses, and solve mysteries, and wear playsuits, and swim before breakfast, and have a club! And they ride horses! And have a club!
Last night, as we finished the book, she was reluctant to say goodbye so quickly. She asked me to read the back cover to her. The blurb said "There's no one quite like Trixie!" I looked down at my girl, and she had a private smirk on her face. I raised my eyebrows, and she whispered, "There's me. I'm like Trixie." Her face lit up, and she smiled. She ran her eyes over the cover art, looking for similarities. Finding nothing obvious, she whispered, "We both like bugs."
Yesterday, she informed me that she was forming her own club. The Wind Horse Riding Girls love horses, see. And they wear yellow shirts with W.H.R.G. on the back, and have baby blue jackets, also with W.H.R.G. on it. And they do stuff. Stuff that is yet to be determined. The wardrobe seems to be the most important factor, after loving horses.
I was thrilled to be asked to be a member. But being declared "High Queen" was overwhelming. I may have cried a bit. We got busy on Zazzle and with the help of a couple of scanned drawings, colored in photoshop, we have our shirts. I wonder what our motto is? We love horses and bugs but not boys? (I think you all should go buy a shirt, too, and you can join the club. We can do, uh, stuff. And love horses! But we won't embroider shirts, because Trixie don't play that.)
Alas, we don't have a horse. We've got bugs, though. And I've just learned that my sister is giving my oldest a series of riding lessons for her birthday next week. Whoa nelly - that right there is going to be an awesome surprise for my Trixie-wannabe.
Comments
Ah yes, Trixie. Have you thought about introducing the Bobbsey Twins? Still a bit archaic in the gender specific roles, but not as severe especially in the whole worldly wealth arena. Of course there's the Nancy Drew series, but for a child that young, doubtful. Although my boys (just turned 10) were getting into both the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew a few months before turning 9, so hard telling. No gender bias roles there! If anything, Nancy's sidekick, George, seemed to be their attempt to blast out of that whole sissy girl vs. manly man era.
I was reading your post about insomnia and a few before about the therapy and the analyzing. From the outside looking in and mind you, through a porthole too, I'm willing to bet this self-analysis is part to blame for the insomnia (if not completely).
My last entry before my untimely haitus at my blog, Missy Knows-It-All (http://mkia.diaryland.com) you left me a message which I'm not sure I ever thanked you for. So -- thank you for your kind words. I appreciated them very much.
I've since returned only taking up a new residence at a different blog site until I've dealt with these issues I'm faced with, so drop on by when you get the chance!
Posted by: Missy | March 17, 2006 9:54 AM
Hell Yeah! on Trixie! I loved those books when I was a kid. I had most of them, although unfortunately I lent them to a coworker for her daughter almost a decade ago, and now they're gone. I was pretty tickled to see they were being re-released (again: I think when we read them the first time it was also a re-release.)
re: gender stereotyping...Granted it's been years and years since I've read the books, but as I recall, at least Trixie herself was against the mold. And after all, she was the star. Di and Honey may have been richer and prettier, but Trixie was the one having most of the fun.
I'm grinning at the image of your daughter having her "club"...brings back a lot of memories. Hooray for the riding lessons!
Posted by: Anna | March 17, 2006 11:45 AM
Oh no you didn't! Jenny, of Jennyonthespot and I traded those back and forth. Of course,I sent her the first one when her daughter was born. Mine got tossed,but they are re-releasing them. Drama Queen (my 11 year old) is obsessed. She was Honey for her oral book report and is responsible for starting it up at her school.
I think I need a Wind Horse Riding Girls shirt. Do they come in blue? :)
Posted by: Jenn2 | March 17, 2006 1:32 PM
I had forgotten about Trixie Belden! SugarPlum would love those!
For the past year, we have been reading through the Little House books together. We have read all of the Laura books as well as her great grandmother and her grandmother. Right now we are reading the "Caroline" books. SugarPlum loves all of those. Even my boys like them in small doses!
Posted by: buffi | March 17, 2006 2:21 PM
Oh my gosh. TRIXIE BELDEN!!! My daughter was so obsessed with those books, with every character, with every plotline. . . . I think we have them all, even the hard-to-find ones. Well, SHE has them all, that is. They were the first thing she packed up, when she grew up and moved out. Trixie Belden. They are very well-written, geographically accurate, and cool. You can get them for cheap, on Ebay, by the way. Except for those few hard-to-find onesp; those babies are sky-high. Trixie Belden. I'm ecstatic.
Posted by: Mamacita | March 17, 2006 2:46 PM
Cute idea! But I have to warn you on the riding lessons; a friend of mine did that for her daughter at age 5 and there was no turning back. They are now the proud owners of a horse which they board at the place riding lessons began. Never say never!
Posted by: Stephanie C. | March 17, 2006 4:19 PM
Ahh, Trixie. My summer pal. I read ALL of the books. ALL of them. Again and again. I swear it is the reason for my book obsession now as an adult.
And the club (T-shirts, bugs, and horses)... I'm SO in. I just want a title too. :-)
Posted by: Bethany | March 17, 2006 5:50 PM
Ok I feel dumb, no clue who Trixie is. Could be because my mother sucked at mothering and never read to me (my dad read me the Hardy Boys!) BUT I am so getting one of those shirts for my 1yr old Peanut. Everytime she sees a horse on tv or in books, she squeels and loves it.
Posted by: Trish | March 18, 2006 7:44 AM
i love THAT!!!!!
I loved the Trixie books too. loved them...
Posted by: CMHL | March 19, 2006 7:40 AM
W.H.R.G. sounds AWESOME! I'm a member of the Straw Sisters Club. We meet on the bale of straw out back (leftover from re-seeding the lawn). WOOHOO!
Posted by: Nancy | March 19, 2006 2:28 PM
This is why the internet is SO DAMN AWESOME.
For years I was the only one who knew the secret whistle (Bob-White! Bob-White!) and that everyone should call their best friend Honey (even if her name was really Julie or Andrea)and that dusting could and should always be put off if adventure called.
Oh I loved Trixie Belden. And how I would have loved to have a mother who got excited about all things Belden like you. Mine wouldn't even let me sign up for the Trixie Belden fan club because she thought we'd get all sorts of junk mail or something. (No, I'M NOT BITTER!!!)
Posted by: Susie Sunshine | March 20, 2006 6:11 PM
Oh I LOVE the tshirts. So adorable.
Posted by: chris | March 21, 2006 5:03 AM
Hi! This is my first time here. A friend told me I needed to come read this post because she knows how much I loved Trixie Belden when I was a little girl. I still have all my read-many-time copies. I'm so glad to hear that another generation is reading about Trixie too! :-)
Posted by: DebR | March 22, 2006 3:17 PM
Oh, I see my friend Jenn2 has alread told on us... Good 'ol Trixie... By the way, I just discoverd Zazzle not too long ago - and can I say you are such a great mom with that whole t-shirt thing... I'm all inspired-n-stuff :)
Posted by: jennyonthespot | March 25, 2006 10:11 PM