‘Girls’ Books for Boys

Just as surely as walking into the clothes department of a shop you will see a clear delineation of girls’ (pink!) and boys’ (blue!), when you browse children’s chapter books it becomes very obvious that the publishers have either girls or boys in mind when releasing many books. In our house, there is no Lego/girls  Lego divide and I have never labeled books as for girls or for boys.

Despite this, my male independent reader gravitates towards ‘boy’ books: The Bad Guys, Captain Underpants, Tom Gates, Zac Power, The Treehouse Series; the list goes on. I have tried to get him interested in some of the books that are marketed more for girls and he has read a few but he has also refused to read others. He has read the Billie B Brown: Code Breakers books and but wouldn’t go near The Baby-sitters Club or Arkie Sparkle.

I thought I’d put together a short list of some of the ‘girls’ books my male bookworm has really loved. They each have a spunky young girl as the main character who drives the story.

Mango and Bambang, by Polly Faber and Clara Vulliamy

This is a 4 volume series about a girl and her pet Tapir. That’s right this sweet looking little girl has possibly the world’s ugliest, and least thought of, animal as a pet – in an apartment. I don’t think we’ve previously ever come across a children’s book with a Tapir as a character.

The books have plenty of lovely pictures and can be read quite easily by an independent reader of 7-9 yeras old.

Below is a lovely little interview with creators Polly Faber and Clara Vulliamy.

For more info on this lovely series click here.

Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Green and Lauren Child

From a thumbnail on the computer this book looks pretty unassuming, but in real life, it is quite a hefty tome (at least the copy we read was). I was surprised when my boy picked this encyclopaedic sized book about a girl off the library shelf and began reading on the spot. Perhaps Lauren Child’s distinctive yet familiar illustrations were what got drew his attention.

Whatever it was the boy couldn’t put the weighty book down. It is quite an old story now, but with the very modern looking illustrations, he was hooked.

Daisy, by Key Grey

We were first introduced to Daisy through the picture books. My 3 yr old especially loved ‘006 and a Bit‘. But the big boy has really gotten into the chapter book series and looks for a new everytime he visits the library. Of all the ‘boy’ books he reads, Daisy would be most comparable to Tom Gates.

The great news is that there are plenty (at least 16)  in the series to keep the bookworms fed.

For more info on the full range of Daisy books click here.