* Catchy title – often a pun. * Personal voice. You must share opinions. Anecdotes about your reading experience/other relevant experiences are also effective. * Detail about the text, and supporting examples. Provide a summary of the main focus points. * A discussion of strong and weak points about the text’s construction. * Other texts that it reminded you of, or that would be useful to read about the topic. * A rating system – stars, mark out of ten etc. * Awareness of audience. Select a ‘publication’ that suits the text being reviewed. * Figurative language. * Varied sentence length.
When I first picked up Peggy Orenstein’s expository text Cinderella Ate My Daughter I immediately thought of how much my daughter would love the front cover. I mean, pink AND glittery, what’s not to love?
And then I read the book.
As I read through the pages, I started to question why I had assumed Rose would like it. I mean just because its pink doesn’t mean she’ll be drawn to it like a magnet (although that’s what it seems like when we go shopping). When did we as parents begin to pigeonhole our daughters into only buying things if they were pink? Orenstein presents this very idea in her text, exploring when and where this ‘pinkification’ started from, what these Disney Princesses are really teaching our children and whether or not this is just a ‘phase’.
Orenstein has created a well-written, entertaining and informed text, which she has clearly put time and effort in to research thoroughly. The fact that she herself is a mother, to a daughter named Daisy, as well as a journalist, really aids her argument, as she draws on personal anecdotes to show how this ‘pinkification’ has affected her lives, and many of us, myself included, can relate to these, as we have often been in similar situations. It also shows us how she has battled with Daisy, and how it’s often difficult to steer clear from this girlie-girl