From: Heather Williams <heatherwilliams_at_sylvandellpublishing.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 10:36:05 -0400

This conversation could not have come at a more pertinent time and quite frankly has been very helpful.

For one of our new fall releases the story is about building a fort, and in the end it is revealed that the fort belongs to a girl. We have been highly criticized for not showing the girl until the end, but the book is more about the process of building the fort and it is a fun twist at the end that grandfather and granddaughter built the fort together. The author is a science teacher and the intention is to get young kids of all genders interested in physical science or building/engineering concepts. Some reviewers love that the builder's gender is secret until the final reveal of the finished product some have been offended. It is very interesting how individuals have such a different take on the subject. I can't wait to see the kid's reactions.

And as I am writing an annotation and preparing press materials for a 2014 picture book I find that I have referred to the character Wind as "he." There is no indication of gender in the story. The wind could have just as easily been referred to as "she," but I honestly didn't think that far into the story for my first draft. Of course many revisions will be made until the annotation and story are just right!

After reading the comments on this thread I have really paid more attention to how we assign genders to animals, or inanimate objects where there should be no gender bias at all - so thank you everyone!

Best Regards,

Heather Williams

Public Relations Coordinator

Sylvan Dell Publishing

612 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.

Suite A2

Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464

Ph: (843) 971-6722

Fax: (843) 216-3804

Sylvan Dell Publishing - Home
Received on Fri 16 Aug 2013 10:36:05 AM CDT