Boys Books vs. Girls Books

I just read this article, “‘Where Are All The Boy Books?’ You’re Buying Them” that was posted last Monday by Kelly Jensen on Book Riot.  It takes a look at the 2014 Top-Selling Children’s and Young Adult books on Amazon and found that there are a number of “boy” books being published – whether a “boy” book is defined as written by a male author or whose protagonist is male.  That being said, I feel as though you shouldn’t categorize books as “girl” or “boy.”  This prevents children and teens from reading amazing stories that they may very well connect to, even if (gasp!) the character is not of the same sex as the reader.
Boys, like any other group people try to pull together, are individuals with different likes, dislikes and interests.  Yes, I have boys who like male protagonists, but I also had a boy who couldn’t wait for the second Emma-Jean Lazarus book, Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love by Lauren Tashis to come out.  A “boy” book, definitely not categorized as such.  All kids need to be given the opportunity to find the right books for themselves – connecting with a character, escaping reality, learning something new.  Kids are usually looking for something and its the mark of a great librarian who can find what a child is looking for, even if they’re not quite sure themselves.
As this year comes to a close, I’m going to try and catch up with a little more reading that I wanted to finish this year and continue to try and read from a wide range of genres, age ranges, and interests so that as a well-read reference librarian I can help kids find that *just right* book!