Ah Hannahsaunt, Anne of Green Gables, another treasure to add to my list of books I want DD wants me to read to her
Anyway. I volunteer at a toddler/baby group and we were discussing gender issues the other day.
Not one of the children that come fits in any specific gender determined box. There are girls who love trains and won't even consider leaving them to play with anything and some very clean little boys that are almost surgically attached to the vacuum cleaners.
Of course as these children get older the gender differences will become more apparent. Partly due to the influx of testosterone and oestrogen, partly because their brains are wired differently.
When women were not accepted in the work place and family was a Big Deal encouraging children to become used to the role they were allocated due to their gender was just another part of the world they lived in, just as mothers did the cleaning and looked after babies and made themselves look pretty, little girls would do so. Boys were expected to be strong and 'sissys' would be frowned upon, because people believed that this would aid their children to be prepared for their role in adulthood.
In this day and age, however, there is no set role for a man or woman, we can achieve whatever we wish to so surely we should broaden their horizons by encouraging them to read all manner of books, partake in all manner of activities and not give a fig about whether something is for 'boys' or 'girls'.
This 'information' from Leapfrog tells you to choose certain types of books for either sex so that you 'won't go far wrong'.
That's not beneficial to the child, or parent (who may well refuse certain books on the basis that they aren't the books they should be reading) but it will, of course, benefit the people selling books to parents who have children of different genders.
IME, the best way to get children to read is not to pick out a book for them, but to allow them to find one themselves, be it princesses and castles for little Tommy or how the body works for Sarah.
As for the first line, my DD has expressed an interest in Science, so what books do I buy her now?