The Tara Binns books are a new series by Collins (part of their BIG CAT reading series) and when they asked if we would like to review them I immediately said yes. These books have a female character learning about interesting careers (STEM careers) and over the years this has become something that my daughter has constantly been asking me for. Books with female leads and NOT princess stuff. No, my daughter is NOT a princess book type kid, she wants female characters who are strong and clever, female characters who are doing the same jobs, tasks as the male characters. So even though the books were an easy reading level for my daughter I jumped at the chance to review them because I wanted to spread the word about these positive books.
Plus I knew that my daughter would still read them, appreciate the fact there was a female character, enjoy the case studies and end up chatting about the careers (all of which she did). Her exact words after reading the engineer book – “about time someone wrote this.”
We have read three of the books and they all start with Tara opening up an old costume box and then being whisked away into an imaginary world where she gets to be a doctor, pilot or engineer for the day. In each story she learns a bit about what the job involves and then normally something happens which means she needs to implement what she has learnt (they all have happy endings).
I personally love the fact that Tara is depicted in a slightly quirky way – love the curly hair that stands out a bit – for me that enforces the message to young girls that is about using your brains and NOT how you look, or what you wear. Something which I feel very strongly about.
Collins have also created case studies of real women who are currently working in these fields (you can download them FREE from the website – Tara Binns resources). I really appreciate these case studies. Exactly the kind of thing that I wanted for my daughter to read. These right here are the role models we NEED for young girls. And they have also created some lesson plans which you can download from the Collins website.
And I know these books are written for young girls to read but I also liked giving them to my son to read for the simple reason it models the fact that girls and boys can do the same careers. And I think that is also something we need to make sure our sons learn.
My daughter and I LOVE the entire concept behind these books. We think the case studies are brilliant and we hope Collins continues this series so more young girls can be inspired.
Admin Bit – as I mentioned I was given 3 of the Tara Binns books to review. However I want to STRESS that my belief that these books are positive for younger girls has nothing to do with the fact I was given these books. I really believe more books like this should be written and our young girls should be actively encouraged to dream about ALL kinds of careers.
You can order the books directly from Collins or from Amazon (these are the three that we have) Tara Binns: Big Idea Engineer: Band 14/Ruby (Collins Big Cat)
Tara Binns: Double-Quick Doctor: Band 13/Topaz (Collins Big Cat)
Tara Binns: High-Flying Pilot: Band 12/Copper (Collins Big Cat)
I have included Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and love.
ofamily learning together 