Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye by Geronimo Stilton

Boys will not select Roald Dahl's Matilda but mothers might buy it for them if they like Roald Dahl books. The Madeleine books, Pippi Longstocking and Heidi only for girls. Tom Sawyer, the Jungle Book and Alfie are bought for both sexes. If the cover has a boy on it, both sexes will read it. This gender bias runs across the entire age range of books. It is enough that the protagonist is a female to cause disgust among the boys and make the mothers reject Thea Stilton for their sons. It isn't the subject matter, Geronimo is a journalist and editor, Thea is a detective, both are action stories. They don't even want to look at them and if I show them, they are almost uniformly disgusted because it is a 'girl's book'. But little boys will not buy a Thea Stilton book. They show no preference for Geronimo or Thea, they are just looking for one they haven't read and that has an appealing cover and title. The girls will equally select a Thea Stilton book. Geronimo's sister, Thea, it is a completely different story. However, when it comes to the companion range of books about In my experience, fathers rarely buy books for their daughters unless they are with the little girl who will then choose her own book. Mothers, on their own, will buy Geronimo Stilton's for both their sons and daughters. Both boys and girls rush up to the display and look for the ones they haven't read. Something I don't really understand so I would enjoy hearing people's views on is how people buy books for children from the point of view of the gender of the book's main subject as illustrated on the cover.Īt the moment Geronimo Stilton is the hot book for 8-10 year olds. This is not a review, but an observation and a question.

Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye by Geronimo Stilton