Read What 6th Graders Think of Books and Marketing in a Chain Store

We've been following a series about a group of 6th grade students in NYC that studied book covers and various diversity issues including race and gender. As a part of their study, the students visited a big local bookstore chain (that remains nameless) and commented on what they saw. Among the insightful thoughts the 6th graders shared are these:

“I think that once the people who buy books realize that boys can bake and girls can fight dragons, authors will start making more books like that.”

“In the chapter book section, I saw that most of the books that had non-Caucasian characters didn’t have that character on the cover.”

“On the covers, I saw thin, pretty girls. I didn’t see any overweight girls or anyone with acne. I think that these covers shape an idea of perfect in a girls mind, and makes them want to be like that, even though everyone was born perfect.”

“I was disgusted that the authors didn’t seem to realize that not every girl is having problems that she needs her boyfriend to solve.”

We're really impressed with what these students observed, as well as their thoughtful responses, which highlight the importance of educating children about diversity issues.  Click here to read more about what these intelligent 6th graders had to say. All quotes and pictures come from the site.