Renay, I am a librarian, and I so agree with you. I am so frustrated by mothers who come in and demand books which will get their sons reading, but “without any girls in it”. Like their own sons are allergic to girls! I try to gently educate at that moment but it doesn’t always work. Many boys, in my experience, have no difficulty reading many of the fabulous books with female main characters I recommend, unless someone has told them it’s not acceptable, even if not in direct wording. I agree that girls are expected to read books with male narrators because it is ‘natural’ to do so, but it doesn’t go the other way as much. And what’s with the heinous trend of publishing books lately with such titles as “The Dangerous Book for Boys” or “For Girls” with gendered activities in them?? :(

A post in a guycentric sphere about books boys might enjoy that feature female characters: http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com/2009/07/apology-and-course-correction.html

This is so infuriating in so many different ways. When will people stop going on and on about “boys” and “girls” like or dislike as if they were a single entity? Also, yep, it really disturbs me that a librarian would say that.

@Melanie Here’s what gets me! THE PARENTS are contributing to the problem! What a good chance for them to address the issue of male privilege and how they can rise above it! What a great chance for them to teach boys that the world favors them and as such, they should reach out to help others rise above behaviors that reduce the non-male to Other! See how they do nothing? Oh my gosh, it makes me want to chew on my arm in frustration.

Your mention of the Dangerous Books reminded me of this post and made me sad all over again. (That blog is fascinating, though, especially their toys section!)

@Jodie Thank you for that post! Good recs there, and also I love the point about Disney movies.

@Nymeth I am glad I am not the only one. I am still boggling over the idea that this is a librarian. I kind of want to send her some teaspoons, since she’s so clearly out of her own.

I read that article and it made me so freaking angry!!! I’m a girl and I tend to gravitate towards books with themes that are usually considered “for boys,” like science fiction, epic adventures, and action, rather than romance, high school drama, and emotions. Why the divide? There are boys and girls who read outside the lines, but boys are usually discouraged from reading “girl books.” And I don’t see what’s so repulsive about a book with the themes I like to read about, but with a girl as the protagonist. Luckily, I actually know boys who read and enjoy books like this (like The Looking Glass Wars and the Abhorsen series.) I just hope that everybody else will come to understand this.

I think that you really hit on a larger cultural issue that the author on the School Library Journal did not quite understand when she wrote her article. I am the parent of three fifteen year old boys and while I readily admit that there are genres that some boys that “girls” or “boys” may be drawn to; I do think that the culture does not make it okay for a boy to read a “girl” book. We listen to a lot of books on CD as a family and when I pick them out, I look at topics that we will all be interested in…regardless of whether the lead character was a boy or a girl. And many times my boys have enjoyed books with female leads as much as ones with male leads. However, in the comfort of home, it is okay. Would they cart these books to school in front of their friends? Probably not, which also makes me sad as a woman.

Side note, this whole discussion reminds me of Madonna’s song “What if feels like for a girl.”