From: Roxanne Feldman <roxannefeldman_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:23:30 -0700

I'm thinking more about what we mean by saying "gender role" -- are we only thinking about jobs/careers? Or are we also thinking about personality traits?

I'm thinking perhaps we can have a picture book about a group of male friends who gossip about a member of their "clique" and the consequences of their actions? How about a picture book where the boys are the more sensitive and gentle parties in the story while the girls are the inflicter (?) of emotional pain and how the event gets resolved? Can we have a picture book where a boy dances and sings in a school play and the girl hammers and builds the set without either being a "surprise" cast?

Just thinking out loud here... Gender expression goes far beyond career choices and opportunities. I would love to see more and more skilled authors and illustrators capture such subtleties in the art of picture book storytelling -- without making these the focal points of the story, but embedded them within the texts and the illustrations.
Received on Thu 15 Aug 2013 06:23:30 PM CDT