Conceived by Marlo Thomas
Copyright 1974
I’ve been thinking about this book a lot lately. While I still had the accompanying record
album, I wasn’t sure what happened to the original book that my mother bought
for the three of us youngest children.
Recently, I came across a used copy and memories came flooding back. I had perused this book and listened to the
album many times growing up.
Free to Be… You and Me
is a collection of stories, poems, and songs that celebrate diversity and
individuality and challenge stereotypes.
Paging through the book, I remember my mother’s
favorites.
She loved the story of William’s
Doll, based on a book by Charlotte Zolotow.
Five year old William wanted his own doll to take care of. His best friend, his cousin, and his brother
all teased him for being a sissy. His
father bought him all sorts of sporting equipment, which William used and
enjoyed, but still, he wanted a doll.
Finally, William’s Grandma saves the day, buys the doll, and sets the
rest of the family straight. Of course
William should have a doll. Shouldn’t he
know how to lovingly care for a baby?
After all, someday he may be a daddy.
Perhaps as a mother of six boys, my mother realized the
importance of encouraging her sons become nurturing adults.
Her other favorite was a poem by Sheldon Harnick titled Housework. The author wonders why, in the ads on TV, a woman
is always scouring the dishes, scrubbing the tub, or cleaning the stove or the
sink with a great big smile on her face.
That woman, of course, is just a paid actress. Housework, after all, is just no fun. The poem ends with
Little boys, little girls,
when
you’re big husbands and wives,
if
you want all the days of your lives
to
seem sunny as summer weather
make
sure, when there’s housework to do,
that
you do it together.
It’s funny how I didn’t care for this poem at all as a child, yet now I
completely get it!
The story I remember most – the one that surprised me at the time with
its message – is Atalanta.
Atalanta is a princess. Like
most princess stories, the problem that needs to be solved is who Atalanta is
going to marry. So many young men wished
to marry this bright, clever, talented princess that her father didn’t know who
to choose for her. (Note that physical beauty is not mentioned.)
“You don’t have to choose,
Father,” Atalanta said. “I will
choose. And I’m not sure that I will
choose to marry anyone at all.”
The king wasn’t happy with this comment and decides to hold a race to
decide who will marry his daughter. The
fastest runner will win the right to her hand.
Clever girl that she is, Atalanta enters the race herself – and ties for first with John, a young man from town.
Her father decides to give the prize to him
since he came closest to winning. John, smart man
that he is, did not wish to win Atalanta in this way. He only wished for a chance to speak with the
bright young woman he admired. They
spent the day together, enjoyed each other’s company and became friends. The next day, John sailed off to discover new
lands and Atalanta set off to visit great cities. They each had wonderful adventures and lived
happily ever after.
Free to be you and me encourages each child to imagine their own future
free of cultural stereotypes. I’m so
grateful for this lesson. I’m not sure
if I said this 40 years ago, so I’ll say it now - thanks for the book and
record, Mom.
The first
story in this book is Yertle the Turtle. Yertle the Turtle was king of the
pond, and in the beginning all was well.
Unfortunately, his position goes to his head and his desire for more
power inspires him to literally stand on the backs of the other turtles to
raise his throne higher and higher. 
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