We give a big THUMBS UP to El Deafo by Cece Bell and a major THUMBS DOWN to The Dork Diaries Series that is often billed as, "Wimpy Kid for Girls." Why do we need Wimpy Kid for girls? Why can't girls just read Wimpy Kid? There's no such thing as the girl version of The Lord of the Rings. Or the girl version of Harry Potter. Wimpy Kid books appeal to kids if they are drawn to its specific style of humor, whether the kid is a boy or a girl or a baby goat makes no difference.
WHY THUMBS DOWN: Dork Diaries perpetuates the negative stereotype that girls are superficial, empty-headed, social butterflies who only care about fashion, celebrities, being cute, cool and popular. There's nothing wrong with "fun" light reading-- but that's not what this is. Here are just a few direct quotes:
"Don't you need a LICENSE to be that UGLY?"
"You FAT, worthless skanks!"
"I hope you're not stupid enough to think he'd like a LOSER like you!"
We wish we could say these were the only derogatory lines, but the entire book is a stew of trite sound-bites and cliche "mean girl" insults. If you have these books at home please don't give them away, put them in your recycling bin with the hope that they will be reprocessed into something useful to humanity... such as a nice big roll of ultra absorbent toilet paper.
WHY THUMBS UP to El Deafo by Cece Bell: So many good things have been said about this book. It's a beautifully drawn graphic novel with an empathetic female protagonist. Cece loses her hearing when she's four and must navigate elementary school feeling somewhat of an outsider. Her biggest challenge is overcoming her own self-doubt. The book shines with moments of humor and warmth, and has "real" enough school scenarios to capture the interest of tween girls 4th grade and up. #stayweird!
WHY THUMBS DOWN: Dork Diaries perpetuates the negative stereotype that girls are superficial, empty-headed, social butterflies who only care about fashion, celebrities, being cute, cool and popular. There's nothing wrong with "fun" light reading-- but that's not what this is. Here are just a few direct quotes:
"Don't you need a LICENSE to be that UGLY?"
"You FAT, worthless skanks!"
"I hope you're not stupid enough to think he'd like a LOSER like you!"
We wish we could say these were the only derogatory lines, but the entire book is a stew of trite sound-bites and cliche "mean girl" insults. If you have these books at home please don't give them away, put them in your recycling bin with the hope that they will be reprocessed into something useful to humanity... such as a nice big roll of ultra absorbent toilet paper.
WHY THUMBS UP to El Deafo by Cece Bell: So many good things have been said about this book. It's a beautifully drawn graphic novel with an empathetic female protagonist. Cece loses her hearing when she's four and must navigate elementary school feeling somewhat of an outsider. Her biggest challenge is overcoming her own self-doubt. The book shines with moments of humor and warmth, and has "real" enough school scenarios to capture the interest of tween girls 4th grade and up. #stayweird!
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