Quote

Boys do not evaluate a book. They divide books into categories. There are sexy books, war books, westerns, travel books, science fiction. A boy will accept anything from a section he knows rather than risk another sort. He has to have the label on the bottle to know it is the mixture as before.

— William Golding

Sentiment: POSITIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

Girls read a boy book, but boys don't necessarily want to read a girl book.

— Sharon Draper

Books written by boys are given very different treatment to those written by girls: they're even given very different covers. People also expect, in this YA-booming world, girls to be less experimental than boys: girls are achieving a lot of success, but they're confined.

— Sarah Rees Brennan

I think it's so important for young readers to find a book or series that ignites their passion for reading, especially boys, whose interest in reading wanes as they grow older.

— Jennifer A. Nielsen

We determine whether a book is for boys or girls long before the reader gets a chance to decide: we package them with soldiers and ballet slippers on their covers, war machines and glittering gowns.

— Marie Lu

Every book is a children's book if the kid can read!

— Mitch Hedberg

Kids and adults have a difference of opinion when it comes to what constitutes legitimate reading. Adults often push books that they loved as children, which, ironically, were often books that their parents weren't particularly keen on.

— Jeff Kinney

Boys are different from girls, but boys are also different from other boys, just as girls are different from other girls. Calling a book 'for boys' or 'for girls' is well-meaning, but to me, not terribly helpful.

— Marie Lu

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because they have been told that these books are good. They are looking for delight.

— Helen Dunmore

✗Opposing Perspectives

Children simply don't make the distinction; a book is either good or bad. And some of the books they think are good are very, very bad indeed.

— Mark Haddon

A book is simply the container of an idea like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.

— Angela Carter