Yes, it's time for We Recommend again, which you'll be seeing a lot more of for the next while as we've let something of a backlog develop (sorry everyone!). Anyway, here's where you write in asking for a book recommendation for some young person you know, and we magically come up with the perfect book, and when we don't you guys get going in the comments and help out. Without further ado…
So this one has me flummoxed. Check it out:
A friend of mine has an eight year old girl, going on sixteen. This morning, the mother said that she put the girl's clothes out for her, and "duh!" the girl said, "they don't go together." This girl knows her fashion. And art. And she's just got that eye. So, what do we recommend for an eight year old girl who is all about fashion? Nonfiction, of course, is good too. Maybe something interactive?
OK—fashion? I don't know. I mean, I'm no fan of Fancy Nancy, which she's too old for anyway. A subscription to Vogue or Elle? I don't know, it doesn't seem so great. I wish I knew exactly what her style was—sleek? Modern? Of the moment? There's a whole lot out there for a girl who is interested in old fashioned clothes, but the "duh" makes me think that's not going to fly here. Hmm…. I sort of think a book that's not about fashion, but that has cool design, something like Olivia but for someone older. Hmmm…..
OK, this isn't a kid's book, and it isn't current, and it isn't high design, but it IS a book that Diana, at least, was obsessed by for many long years. We "read" it over and over, and it brough great joy:
But surely there is something else, right? Somone? What if she's not a shoe freak? Help!
marcialerner.com 
I am currently in love with “I Dreamed I was a Ballerina” (http://www.amazon.com/I-Dreamed-Was-Ballerina/dp/0689846762/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291745918&sr=1-4) which I am including because she also said art and it is the coolest melding of art and children’s literature.
For fashion, I don’t know as much. My daughter is totally into fashion and we just don’t read much about it. Almost any book with a group of girls is going to have one that’s “into” fashion. That’s who Brynn always connects, even though it’s usually the character I hate. Project Runway has some really neat “toys” like designer’s notebooks and guides. But they aren’t the kind of books you just read.
Good luck!
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Well, it’s a little out there, but my grandmother’s copy Edith Head’s “Dress Doctor” was my initiation into what exactly clothes do for a person, and how to start to think about them. Illustrated, but more a reading book than a picture book. The other book I lifted from grandma’s shelf was “How to Talk with Practically Anybody About Practically Anything” by Barbara Walters – those two books were probably the best accidents that could have happened to my shy, awkward ten year old self….
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Oh crud, I meant to say “Dress for Success” by Edith Head – don’t have a copy to hand and didn’t read the Amazon description thoroughly….
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What about a biography of CoCo Channel, which has the added bonus of some girl power messages. I don’t know if there is a kids biography, but there was a recent revival in interest in Chanel, so now would be the time for a kids version to surface.
I’m not generally a fan of classics adopted into other styles, but there seem to be a bunch of graphic novel versions of Austen and Bronte books. Maybe some of those would provide an interesting plot with the eye candy of the dresses?
Actually, illustrated versions of A Little Princess or the Secret Garden might be able to provide both the dresses and an age-appropriate read.
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What about Anne Shirley and her specific fashion sense? Again, it’s old-fashioned, but maybe it could be introduced with a conversation about how styles return… (after all, the 80s are back, and the 80s were a time of giant shoulder pads, which are sort of like puffed sleeves…)
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My 10-year-old is very into fashion, and loves these Designer Doodles books that she somehow keeps obtaining. They are sort of like drawing prompts and sort of like coloring books: each page has a half-completed fashion idea, or a whole bunch of things, either half-drawn or outlined, and then a prompt like “Decorate these handbags!” and “Draw and design the skirts on these outfits!”
Hours and hours (and hours and hours) of entertainment for her, first when she draws and colors them, and then when she brings them to us and demands that we choose our favorite from each page and explain why.
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Kiki magazine, at kikimag.com, sounds right up her alley. It uses fashion design as a starting point to talk about all sorts of positive girl things.
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What about The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes?
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