Role Model
Creator of motorcycle-riding children's character Princess Smartypants dies aged 66.
John Newman
Calling all parents! Or more precisely parents whose children are of primary-school age.
Children's author and illustrator, Babette Cole, died suddenly on January 15th. She was just sixty-six, which, in this period where we talk about sixty being the new forty, is young. So why are we telling you this through the pages of a motorcycle website?
She was an anarchist and eccentric in the best way possible. And amongst her best-selling books were the stories of Princess Smartypants. Described as inverted fairy stories, they were certainly not conventional 'princess' stories. The character subverted the role that girls were supposed to conform to. Babette Cole put her on a motorcycle, and she was very much the rider and in control.
Most of us want to pass on to our kids the enjoyments we get from life. And one of the ways young people come to motorcycling is through our interest in the gratification and thrill we derive from two wheels and power. So one good way to introduce youngsters to biking is through the Princess Smartypants stories and pictures.
Delve a bit deeper into Babette Cole's work and you'll find a treasure trove of ideas and information for kids and parents in the seventy books she wrote and published. The former children's laureate Michael Rosen said she wrote "books that come over first and foremost as incredible fun, full of laughs and craziness"... and we all need that.
27/01/17 - Too young
27/01/17 - This had passed me by. A great favourite in our family and I believe lived in rural Dorset? RIP
28/01/17 - This was one of our daughter's favourite books (she still has it)
28/01/17 - I read this to my little boy yesterday before he went to bed and remember it from when I was young.
EN