The Girl Who Would Rather Climb Trees

by Miriam Schlein, Judith Gwyn Brown

Melissa, a little girl who would rather climb trees than play with dolls, hardly knows what to do with the doll she is given.

31 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Miriam Schlein was an American author who wrote nearly 100 books that helped teach children about animals and more obscure ideas such as space and time. Her books include The Year of the Panda and Discovering Dinosaur Babies. Schlein died of vasculitis in Manhattan, New York, at age 78, in 2004.

Reviews

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Propaganda, nothing more. This is the extremely contrived story of a girl (who appears to be at least 5 years old, probably older - she already can read, climb trees, ride a bicycle, do puzzles, etc.) who is given what is apparently her very first ever doll. She is totally clueless and can't understand what she is supposed to do with it. The establishment adults (her mother and friend and her grandmother) all gang up and repress her into that awful stifling stereotyped gender role - she must mother this doll! At least every character in this book is female, so we only have to blame the patriarchal society and its brainwashed women instead of any actual oppressive males. In the end, Melissa cons the gender conformists by abandoning her child (doll), telling them that Dolly is sleeping so that she can go out to have fun (climbing trees). It's all so utterly ridiculous and lacks even the remotest connection to reality. And I'm sure that 1970s feminists thought it was great.

[Victoria Ramey]

I enjoyed it! It reminded my of myself when I was a child :)

[Melissa]

My mom always said I am just like Melissa in the book I never had a thing for dolls an I always love to be up in a tree and be active an my name is Melissa lol :)