Boy Books

Tom Kelly has posted a thought-provoking essay over at the Guardian Book Blog.

The post, entitled "The Wrong Kind of Reading Lessons," takes a look at the proliferation of adventure books for boys and asks "Are boys the new girls? Is murder and mayhem taking over from all that pink and glister in the children's section of your high street bookshop? Will Young Bond finally assassinate Barbie?" While one might take a side in the battle of Barbie vs. Bond (Go, Bond!), Kelly does ask some important questions.

Here are his main concerns: "We are offering up a fast food menu of impoverished stereotypes to our sons, based on rigid class systems and exclusion. The thought of filling 21st century boyhood with the same stale old guff on evil foreigners and government-sanctioned assassins makes me feel tired and more than a bit concerned."

What do you all think?