SOMETIMES IT TAKES AN EIGHT YEAR OLD.

I have so many projects going, I barely even read my email. This caught my eye, written by Karen Attwood of the Independent  which I is a UK Newspaper.

An eight year old girl named Els, was very put off when the book company, Scholastic, told her in a title, that the pirate story she wanted to read was 'for boys.' She tells The Independent that when Scholastic comes to visit her school, everyone gets excited, and they spend a lot of money buying books. The UK student thinks Scholastic should be more responsible:

Books should be for everyone, we all like different things. If you tell a girl she could not have one of the books she likes, when she grows up she might feel lonely because she thinks that all the other girls like pretty, pink princesses and she doesn’t.

With her mother's loving encouragement to find a solution, Els sent a petition to Scholastic, signed by 80 friends and faculty from her school. The results were very good. No, the results were awesome. In a statement, Scholastic said that their website is being re-launched.

"We are no longer publishing anything new pitched ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ in the title. Any historic titles still in the market will be reissued with new covers on reprint. We appreciate that every child is different and has the right to choose the books that are right for them."

Isn't that  amazing. The Independent, reports nine publishers have now agreed to drop gender labeling on books. Hopefully the rest of them will follow suit.
I love good news.