Read With Conina

In this post, I will talk about another panel that I found influential.

Where the Boys Are: The Right Books Can Make Them Heroes

Panel included:
Francesca Cavallo, Italian author
Michiel Kolman, Sr. VP at Elsevier, chair for Inclusive Publishing and Literacy
Maria Russo, Editor at Large, Union Square Kids
Jonathan Simcosky, Quarto Books, New York; Editor
Moderator: Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Publishing Perspectives

This next panel had some thought-provoking insights and questions about gender in publishing. Francesca started out the panel by talking about how she had to analyze her own attitude toward boys and men. It is hard not to get stuck in the ‘men are trash’ mindset when that is the experience you have had, but Francesca talked about the need to break out of this in order to help boys. Looking at gender through the lens of fairytales, we see a few things. Ladies are often less free than men. However, the ladies are often the most important part of the story; the boys are barely more than plot-movers. Girls learn that their mission in life is to get out of their bad situation and marry a boy, often a prince. On the other side, boys learn that they must save a princess; if they don’t, they have no other reason to be in the story. Francesca questions, “What do the men feel?” What did Snow White’s father feel about his daughter disappearing? Did Cinderella’s prince have any thoughts of his own, any interests? Francesca’s main point ended with an insight: girls need to learn that they can conquer the world, and boys need to learn how to conquer themselves. “Gender equality is mutual liberation.”

Porter briefly talked about how publishers need to step up. When it was needed, publishers stepped up and put out a lot of books focusing on how women are as capable as men. Now, boys are struggling, yet the current trend of ‘boy’s books’ is boys in bad situations: survival stories, drugs, and violence. They don’t often get books with happy topics or about emotions.

Maria talked about the scientific issues surrounding boys and reading. Though everyone is different, the average boy learns to read one year later than the average girl. So from their very beginnings with books, they are behind, stigmatized, made to feel like they can’t do it. This in turn leads to more behavioral issues from boys. Boys in general learn more visually, as well. This means that when teaching boys to read, or when trying to foster their love for reading, it is important to use more visuals and graphics. Comics and graphic novels are great for this, but Maria has another point: We should keep picture books in kids’ lives longer. Instead of pushing kids out of picture books into early readers, we should be championing picture books. There is so much benefit from them, and the benefit is to everyone involved.

One other great point was about masculinity. We shouldn’t be shaming masculinity, only the way it has been skewed into toxic territory. Girls claim their femininity in a basic way: often when they get their period. It’s intrinsic. But with boys, it is not as easy. Their masculinity is certified by peers; a social granted status that they must earn through whatever ways their friends see fit. What the world needs is to reframe masculinity. We don’t want to condemn it, only change it so that men are once again able to reclaim love, honesty, and gentler traits as a part of their masculinity. Being masculine doesn’t have to mean being rough and emotionless, and the publishers can have a part in changing this toxic stereotype by producing less books perpetuating it.