Attempts by parents and teachers to persuade boys to read more are being undermined by publishers whose insistence on using lurid ?Barbie? pink covers on books is turning away young male readers in their droves.
Wendy Cooling of Bookstart, a charitable programme that encourages children to read, said she was dismayed that publishes were now using gender-specific marketing for certain children?s books. Whereas girls were not put off boys? books, which tended to be primary colours, few boys dared to be seen reading a pink or purple book, even though they might otherwise enjoy it.
The Times, September 22 2007
