Genevieve: Why does Mulan have to be a boy? Why does she do that?

Cassie: She wants to replace her father in the war because he already fought and was injured in battle. Mulan doesn’t want her father to go to war again.

Genevieve: She doesn’t want him to die? Or get hurt?

Cassie: That’s right.

Genevieve: She was brave like a boy?

Cassie: Yes. Girls can be very brave, too. Both boys and girls are brave.

Genevieve: And when she sees the doll in the town she’s remembering that really she’s a girl?

Cassie: Maybe. Also, I think the doll reminds Mulan and her fellow warriors that there were children and families in the village that was just burned to the ground by the Huns.

Genevieve: That was the olden days when Mulan did that fighting against the bad guys.

Cassie: Yes. That’s an old story. But there are wars in parts of the world that are going on right now…far away from us…but there is war today, which makes me sad.

Genevieve: Are there girl soldiers?

Cassie: Yes. In some of the wars both men and women soldiers fight.

Genevieve: Is that why you’re sad? Because the girls are in the war too?

Cassie: I’m sad about ALL the people in the war…the boys and the girls…all the villages and towns that get burned.

Genevieve: I’m never going to go into a war.

Cassie: I certainly hope not.

Genevieve: I don’t want to be brave like Mulan.

Cassie: Okay.

Genevieve: I’m going to watch “Cinderella” next time because I don’t like the part about the fire in the village and the doll that Mulan finds. But I like the songs in Mulan. The songs are sooo good.

Cassie: Every Bollinger kid liked the songs in Mulan.

Genevieve: Max? And Chloe did? And Charlie?

Cassie: Yep. Max would rip his shirt off and dance and do Tae Kwon Do moves to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” I can’t remember Charlie’s favorite parts….I think he knew all the funny lines from the sidekick dragon.

Genevieve: That’s Moo-Shoo. What was Chloe’s favorite part?

Cassie: I’m not absolutely sure but I think she was fond of the matchmaking tea scene.

Genevieve: Where the lady’s butt gets on fire?

Cassie: Yes.

Genevieve: What part in Mulan did you like best?

Cassie: Probably when Mulan makes it up the pole during the training camp.

Genevieve: They don’t know she’s a girl.

Cassie: Right.

Genevieve: I think I like “Cinderella” better than “Mulan” anyway. Do you like “Cinderella” better than “Mulan?”

Cassie: Only if I’m watching “Cinderella” with you.

Genevieve: (smiling) Cinderella is so beautiful, Mommy, and her glass slippers are sparkling. And the blue gown at the ballroom dance with the prince is soooo beautiful, too.

Cassie: It is.

Genevieve: I don’t like to see the village burned and the doll that they find. Cinderella isn’t sad in any of the parts.

Cassie: I understand, Gigi. You can take a break from Mulan for a while.

Genevieve: Yep. I better take a break from that movie, cuz Cinderella is MY favorite-est princess movie and I need to watch it again and again and again.