To think all female children’s authors should write books with girls in

[Bigmango]

I find it so depressing how many children’s books feature only boys or at least boys in the main role. I recently read a book about pirates to my daughter where every one of the four main characters was a boy (for absolutely no reason - it would have made no difference to the storyline if one or more were girls). I was then shocked to realise the author was a woman. As a female children’s author, wouldn’t you see it as your job to try and redress the balance a bit?

And I’ve never noticed this either and I’m a rampant feminist. In the books where the protagonist is male (HP, Alex Rider, Wimpy Kid Etc) it’s irrelevant to the story and my children enjoy it for the story and identify with its teller as a child, or person, not a specific gender. I like that?

Chilli - the school for good and evil is being made into a film so I’d say a big yes actually!

the matilda effect by ellie irving is also fab, and rooftoppers by katherine rundell.

@ElphiasDoge JK Rowling didn’t even want to reveal that she was a woman for fears of putting of those sensitive boys who might catch girl from reading a book written by one. And yeah, Hermione Granger...nagging the boys, following the rules like a good girl should...

Bullshit
As a female author, I will write about however the hell I like.
And, if we have to have quotas, why should only female authors have to write about female characters? Is there something wrong with the imagination of male authors?
Studies have shown over and over again that people do not choose books because of the sex of the main characters o o the authors.
And most fiction, childrens fiction in particular, usually has a mix of male and female characters.
So what difference does it make

aw now i wont hear anything against hermione.

yeah, we'll never know but i cant imagine hp would have become a global sensation if it were hg.

Why do children's books feature predominantly middle class children?

@Bigmango Exactly! You think it isn’t/shouldn’t be a thing now but it completely is and it’s insidious.

@Chillisauceboss I’m equally baffled! It was a conversation we had very regularly at school. I though everyone was aware of it!

oh its not just childrens books- im yet to inherit a hotel in cornwall any time soon...

I have two boys, I think if I was an author they'd probably inspire me.

@Rosehip10 yep that too. And they are all white. In fact that’s a good thought. I can’t imagine a black author ever writing a book about a white protagonist mainly because they know how desperately black protagonists are missing from children’s books.

@hazell42 I already said that men are more than welcome to help try and redress the balance of more than a 100 years of mainly mail protagonists!

You dont always know the sex of a.writer, either. You mentioned Harry Potter.
Which was written by JK Rowling
Not Joanne Rowling.
Its only because of the book's phenomenal success that we know about the author
Most of us writers are completely unknown, so if a writer used their initials, or a pseudonym, how would you know

skylarks war- hilary mckay- this book is amazing! (fab female protagonist)

Argh *male.

@hazell42 and why did she do that?

I think most female children’s authors DO write with female protagonists, or a group of shared protagonists of mixed sex.

Most of the books I can think of published recently by female children’s writers (& I work in this area) have female characters. So YABU saying it’s a current, ongoing problem.

It is a huge problem. Particularly in schools who don’t have the budgets to buy lots of new stock. It is definitely an issue.

It will have been a historical issue though, so I can believe your library is out of date.

You need to champion a higher priority for new stock and fly the flag...

Thanks for all the book recommendations btw!

You’re absolutely right that there are more Male protagonists, and boys, historically in fiction, get to be more active and less passive. You’re also right that Rowling was purposefully told to use her initials because the publicists felt it less likely people would buy her books for male children if they knew she was female.

So you’re right, it needs to be addressed. However, a) like a pp said, as a writer, it’s pretty tough to just change the sex of the character you’re imagining. It can work, but often it doesn’t “feel right” to do so and do it stunts the process. I don’t think it’s necessarily the writer’s duty; b) it’s the industry you need to target. I’m sure plenty of female led books are submitted; c) the industry follows society. Women aren’t considered the main character of their OWN real lives let alone in fiction. Focus your energy there and the rest will follow.

@NoSquirrels my aibu wasn’t saying there was no books written by women about women. There are loads. I just don’t know why any female authors writing today would write a book with no female characters when it is clear there is a historical imbalance.

Male authors do write female characters. Female authors write Male characters.
We have to, because the world is filled with both males and females
I dont think your beef is with writers. Its with your LEA
You need a better library. And you need a librarian who chooses books that are representative of all your pupils, no matter what their sex, colour, age, religion or ability. There are lots of books out there. Just because your library is unrepresentative, doesn't mean writers are

Hermione set a teacher on fire. Such a good girl...

(I HATE how JK Rowling has alluded to the idea that Hermione could be black. Not because I dislike the idea, but it's just so lazy, when she actually did what a lot of white writers do, and only mentioned a character's race if they weren't white. Stop being woke, and admit that it just didn't occur to you, and do differently if you don't like how you did it...)

Anyway, I stand by my previous point. Characters and stories just don't happen that way for me. I don't think 'this would be a great story', then decide to create a character to go in it.

In fact I've tried to do that (I want to write a female detective story that is the antithesis to the grouchy older man with a bunch of quirks and a female sidekick trope - looking at you again, Rowling) - but it just doesn't flow in the same way. I can decide a lot of things about her, but it doesn't mean I can write her as well as the characters I imagine organically.

It may be a school library problem caused by older books being the main but this is certainly not what I'm seeing in newly published books recently. I think the last 5 or so books DD and I have read together recently have had strong female main characters and they've also been incredibly well written and received and are now mostly on 2nd or 3rd books in the series.

Off the top of my head, we've had The Nevermoor series, Pages & Co, Wizards of Once, Amelia Fang, Dragon in the Library, The House with Chicken Legs.

Hopefully schools will catch up soon.

I just don’t know why any female authors writing today would write a book with no female characters when it is clear there is a historical imbalance.

What book are you thinking of? Because I honestly can’t think of 5-8, middle grade 9-12 or teen/YA books in the last say 5 years published by women writers which don’t feature strong female characters...