Of Course They Do!: Boys and Girls Can Do Anything

K-Gr 2—Attempting to break gender roles, this book depicts boys and girls engaging in activities that are supposedly associated with the opposite sex. Boys cook, jump rope, take care of babies, and dance, while girls play sports and drive cars. Each page is set up in the same repetitive style (for instance, "Boys don't jump rope" with an image of a girl jumping rope). The next page asks, "What's this then?," paired with a photo that contradicts the assertion, such as a boxer jumping rope. One might ask if this book is really necessary: Are gender roles still that strictly enforced that children need to question them? The generic photos are of poor quality, and because this is a translation from French, some of the wording is awkward. There are much better options for books that break gender stereotypes out there, such as Robert Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess (Annick, 1980), Tomie dePaola's Oliver Button Is a Sissy (1979), and David A. Adler's Mama Played Baseball (2003, both Houghton Harcourt) that this book is an extra purchase, if that.—Jasmine L. Precopio, Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh, PA