Congratulations to Els, from North London, for her astounding accomplishment. The 8-year old managed to convince a mega book publisher to stop marketing books that are titled 'for boys' and 'for girls.'
Els, was very put off when the book company, Scholastic, told her in a title, that the pirate story she wanted to read was 'for boys.' She tells The Independent that when Scholastic comes to visit her school, everyone gets excited, and they spend a lot of money buying books. The UK student thinks Scholastic should be more responsible:
Books should be for everyone, we all like different things. If you tell a girl she could not have one of the books she likes, when she grows up she might feel lonely because she thinks that all the other girls like pretty, pink princesses and she doesn’t.
With her mother's loving encouragement to
find a solution, Els sent a petition to
Scholastic, signed by 80 friends and faculty from her school. The results were very good. No, the results were
awesome. In a statement,
Scholastic said that their website is being
re-launched.
"We are no longer publishing anything new pitched ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ in the title. Any historic titles still in the market will be reissued with new covers on reprint. We appreciate that every child is different and has the right to choose the books that are right for them."
That is amazing. Karen Attwood, who reported the story in The Independent, reports nine publishers have now agreed to drop gender labeling on books.
Els is absolutely right. Books belong to all of us. If you'd like to help reinforce her cause, and help keep other children from being limited by their gender, here are six of the top children's book publishers you can contact via Facebook:
Random House
Penguin
Scholastic
HarperCollins
Simon & Schuster
Disney (formerly Hyperion)
Thank you, Els. Perhaps there will be a book about you, or authored by you, which we can buy one day. Meanwhile, you are a hero for children, parents, and educators around the world. And thank you to Els' mom (who did not want her daughter's full name released) for showing Els that each of us
really can make a difference.)
Special thanks to the Facebook Page, A Mighty Girl, for sharing this news.
