{"id":18894,"date":"2016-02-13T18:14:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T18:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/02\/13\/stories-for-all-2\/"},"modified":"2016-02-13T18:14:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T18:14:30","slug":"stories-for-all-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/02\/13\/stories-for-all-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

shannonhale<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

A school librarian introduces me before I give an assembly. \u201cGirls, you\u2019re in for a real treat. You will love Shannon Hale\u2019s books. Boys, I expect you to behave anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m being interviewed for a newspaper article\/blog post\/pod cast, etc. They ask, \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard about the crisis in boys\u2019 reading. Boys just aren\u2019t reading as much as girls are. So why don\u2019t you write books for boys?\u201d <\/p>\n

Or, \u201cWhy do you write strong female characters?\u201d (and never asked \u201cWhy do you write strong male characters?\u201d)<\/p>\n

At book signings, a mother or grandmother says, \u201cI would buy your books for my kids but I only have boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, \u201cMy son reads your books too\u2014and he actually likes them!\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, a dad says, \u201cNo, James, let\u2019s get something else for you. Those are girl books.\u201d<\/p>\n

A book festival committee member tells me, \u201cI pitched your name for the keynote but the rest of the committee said \u2018what about the boys?\u2019 so we chose a male author instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mom has me sign some of my books for each of her daughters. Her 10-year-old son lurks in the back. She has extra books that are unsigned so I ask the boy, \u201cWould you like me to sign one to you?\u201d The mom says, \u201cYeah, Isaac, do you want her to put your name in a girl book?\u201d and the sisters all giggle. Unsurprisingly, Isaac says no.<\/p>\n

These sorts of scenarios haven\u2019t happened just once. They have been my norm for the past twelve years. I\u2019ve heard these and many more like them countless times in every state I\u2019ve visited. <\/p>\n

In our culture, there are widespread assumptions:<\/p>\n

1. Boys aren\u2019t going to like a book that stars a girl. (And so definitely won\u2019t like a book that stars a girl + is written by a woman + is about a PRINCESS, the most girlie of girls).<\/p>\n

2. Men\u2019s stories are universal; women\u2019s stories are only for girls.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that none of that is truth. In my position, not only have I witnessed hundreds examples of adults teaching boys to be ashamed of and avoid girls\u2019 stories, I\u2019ve also witnessed that boys can and do love stories about girls just as much as about boys, if we let them. For example, I\u2019ve heard this same thing over and over again from teachers who taught Princess Academy: \u201cWhen I told the class we were going to read PRINCESS ACADEMY the girls went \u2018Yay!\u2019 and the boys went \u2018Boo!\u2019 But after we\u2019d read it the boys liked it as much or even more than the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most four-year-old boys will read THE PRINCESS IN BLACK without a worry in the world. Most fourth grade boys won\u2019t touch PRINCESS ACADEMY\u2014at least if others are watching. There are exceptions, of course. I\u2019ve noticed that boys who are homeschooled are generally immune. My public-school-attending 11-year-old son\u2019s favorite author is Lisa McMann. He\u2019s currently enjoying Kekla Magoon\u2019s female-led SHADOWS OF SHERWOOD as much as he enjoyed the last book he read: Louis Sachar\u2019s boy-heavy HOLES. But generally in the early elementary years, boys learn to be ashamed to show interest in anything to do with girls. We\u2019ve made them ashamed. <\/p>\n

I want to be clear; if there\u2019s a boy who only ever wants to read about other boys, I think that\u2019s fine. But I\u2019ve learned that most kids are less interested in the gender of the main character and more interested in the kind of book\u2014action, humor, fantasy, mystery, etc. In adults\u2019 well-meant and honest desire to help boys find books they\u2019ll love, we often only offer them books about boys. We don\u2019t give them a chance.<\/p>\n

Whenever I speak up about this, I am accused of trolling for boy readers when they aren\u2019t my \u201cdue.\u201d So let me also be clear: I have a wonderful career. I have amazing readers. I am speaking up not because I\u2019m disgruntled or demand that more boys read my books but because my particular career has put me in a position to observe the gender bias that so many of us have inherited from the previous generations and often unknowingly lug around. I\u2019ve been witnessing and cataloging widespread gender bias and sexism for over a decade. How could I face my kids if I didn\u2019t speak up?<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s what I\u2019ve witnessed: \u201cgreat books for boys\u201d lists, books chosen for read alouds, and assigned reading in high schools and colleges, etc. are overwhelmingly about boys and written by men. Peers (and often adults) mock and shame boys who do read books about girls. Even informed adults tend to qualify recommendations that boys hear very clearly. \u201cEven though this stars a girl, boys will like it too!\u201d<\/p>\n

This leads to generations of boys denied the opportunity of learning a profound empathy for girls that can come from reading novels. Leads to a culture where boys feel perfectly fine mocking and booing things many girls like<\/a> and adults don\u2019t even correct them because \u201cboys will be boys.\u201d Leads to boys and girls believing \u201cgirlie\u201d is the gravest insult, that girls are less significant, not worth your time. Leads to girls believing they must work\/learn\/live \u201clike a man\u201d in order to be successful. Leads to boys growing into men who believe women are there to support their story, expect them to satisfy men\u2019s desires and have none of their own.<\/p>\n

The more I talk about this topic, the more I\u2019m amazed at how many people haven\u2019t really thought about it or considered the widespread effect gendered reading causes. I was overwhelmed by the response to a blog post I wrote earlier this year.<\/a> To carry on this conversation, I\u2019m working with Bloomsbury Children\u2019s Books<\/a> to create #StoriesForAll. Each day this week we\u2019ll feature new essays on this topic from authors, parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and readers. On twitter, instagram, and tumblr, join us with the #StoriesForAll hashtag to share experiences, photos, book recommendations. Discuss: How deep is the assumption that there are boy books and girl books? Does it matter? What have you witnessed with regards to gendered reading? What damage does gendered reading cause to both girls and boys? What can each of us do to undo the damage and start making a change?<\/p>\n

I yearn for that change. For our girls and for our boys. <\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Shannon Hale is the New York Times bestselling author of over 20 books, including the Ever After High trilogy and the Newbery Honor winner Princess Academy. She co-wrote The Princess in Black series and Rapunzel\u2019s Revenge with her husband, author Dean Hale. They have four children.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT I am reblogging it here instead of icklegab. Please read!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

shannonhale: A school librarian introduces me before I give an assembly. \u201cGirls, you\u2019re in for a real treat. You will love Shannon Hale\u2019s books. Boys, I expect you to behave anyway.\u201d I\u2019m being interviewed for a newspaper article\/blog post\/pod cast, etc. They ask, \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard about the crisis in boys\u2019 reading. Boys just … Continue reading Stories for all<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[618,137],"class_list":["post-18894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-important","tag-writing","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}