Pink is for girls

[girlyswot]

So, I like pink. You may have noticed. I always have, though for a while I pretended I didn't because it wasn't cool.

Anyway, despite my predilection for the colour, I do not believe that absolutely everything must always be produced in pink. Least of all, books. So although I very much approved of most of Jacqueline Wilson's choices of top children's books, I was somewhat shocked by the amount of pink and sparkly.

My editions of her choices are:

Ballet Shoes: paperback, sort of beige, I think
A Little Princess: paperback, nasty mustard yellow and black
Little Women: hardback, red
The Railway Children: paperback, orange with photo on the front
The Family from One End Street: salmon pink (this one looks quite similar to the current edition)
What Katy Did: hardback, red
Mary Poppins: hardback, green

Many of these were passed down from my mother. None were chosen by me in a bookshop, as far as I remember. All were (and still are) very much loved. I recently lent my copy of Mary Poppins to a friend who is seven and just starting to enjoy reading 'proper' books. She didn't seem to mind that it wasn't pink either. Because, after all, it's what's inside that counts.

Comments

[gabrielladusult.livejournal.com]

Making the cover of all those books pink is bad -- especially because we don't want to discourage boys from reading them any more than we want to discourage girls from reading Treasure Island (or the Harry Potter series).

The one that bugs me is when the book is turned into a movie and then you can't find it anywhere without the actors and movie logo on the cover.

[alkari.livejournal.com]

The one that bugs me is when the book is turned into a movie and then you can't find it anywhere without the actors and movie logo on the cover.</> Hear, hear!! And I *really* hated it when I went looking for classic fairytales and similar stories for my nieces and nephew, and found that so many of them had their illustrations completely "Disneyfied".

Luckily, a few months ago I was able to get a lovely copy of 'The Railway Children' for my 10 y.o. niece, with a colourful non-movie and non-Disney cover.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

My copy of The Railway Children has Jenny Agutter on the cover and I have to say that I quite like it.