Of Course They Do!: Boys and Girls Can Do Anything

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Of Course They Do!: Boys and Girls Can Do Anything

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Overview

Using sparse text and large, bright photographs, the book debunks commonly-held gender-myths. Misconceptions are stated matter-of-factly (Boys don’t cook.), but when the page is turned, each myth is proven false with playful language (Are you sure?) and a contradictory photo (a male professional chef). This jacketless book is perfect for young readers as well as read-alouds and will generate discussions about gender-based assumptions around play and work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580896696
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	BR (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Marie-Sabine Roger has been writing since she was four years old. She has published more than seventy books. She lives in France.

Read an Excerpt

Boys don’t dance. What? Of course they do! Boys don't cook. Are you sure?

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2014
Originally published in France, this upbeat book asserts that nothing is off limits for boys or girls. The evidence? Look at all of the grownups who defy gender stereotypes. Left-hand pages show children engaged in frequently gendered activities—a girl dances, a boy plays with toy cars—while declarative statements (e.g., “Boys don’t take care of babies”) appear on the right. On the pages that follow each example, a full-spread photograph demolishes the stereotype. “Really?” reads one caption, along with a candid photo of a father spoon-feeding his child. The message about false assumptions and gender equality comes through clearly, without heavy-handedness. Ages 2–5. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Originally published in France, this upbeat book asserts that nothing is off limits for boys or girls. The evidence? Look at all of the grownups who defy gender stereotypes. Left-hand pages show children engaged in frequently gendered activities—a girl dances, a boy plays with toy cars—while declarative statements (e.g. "Boys don't take care of babies") appear on the right. On the pages that follow each example, a full-spread photogrpah demolishes the stereotype. "Really?" reads one caption, along with a candid photo of a father spoon-feeding his child. The message about false assumptions and gender equality comes through clearly, without heavy-handedness.
-Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Intended for preschoolers, this short picture book reinforces the idea that boys and girls can do anything they want regardless of former stereotyping. Statements such as boys cannot dance, cook, take care of babies, or cry are each followed by a positive statement with an accompanying large, color photograph of a boy or boys doing just that. There are a few “girls don’t” statements with positive replies, as well. While the idea of debunking sex stereotyping is admirable, the use of negative statements followed by positive ones may be developmentally confusing language to younger listeners. Teachers and parents may need to explain a bit further by exploring listeners’ perceptions of stereotyping. Originally published in France this nonfiction picture book is geared to two to five year olds. Reviewer: Meredith Kiger, Ph.D.; Ages 2 to 5.

Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger

2013-12-07
Sturdy paper, large, spare text, and bold colors imply the youngest audience, but both words and pictures are bound to mislead in this poorly composed gender-role primer. The opening left-hand page shows two little girls in black and pink, respectively, their arms in ballerinalike arches. The opposite page bluntly states, "Boys don't dance." The following double-page spread shows two young men in sweatpants and hoodies hip-hopping their way across the room and the retort, "What? Of course they do!" (No males in tights in sight.) Similarly, the girl jumping rope casually is followed by a boxer training in a seedy basement. The message muddles further as identically strong statements about what boys or girls don't do are followed with weaker answers, such as "Are you sure?" and "Don't they?" Photographs of active little boys and girls, often using toys, are followed by stock photographs of grown men and women vaguely performing the task in question, as with the woman who seems to be measuring wood at a male-dominated construction site in answer to "Girls don't build things." Except for the cover photograph of a blue-shirted boy shyly holding a doll near a pink-clad girl with a toy airplane, all the children in the photographs are shown in traditional gender roles. Since the book was originally published in French, one might excuse the text as "lost in translation," but that cannot exonerate the photographs. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews