Gender by the Book 21st-Century French Children's Literature

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction.   Gender and the French Children's Literature Market

 Part I.  Libraries

Chapter 1.       The Library Landscape

Chapter 2.       Gender in the Awty and Buffon Libraries (2011, 2015)

 Part II.  Book Clubs

Chapter 3.       The Book Club Landscape

Chapter 4.       Gender in L'Ecole des loisirs' Book Club "Max" (2019–20) 

 Part III.  Magazine Subscriptions

Chapter 5.       The Magazine Landscape

Chapter 6.       Gender in J'aime lire Max (2013–14)

Conclusion.     Feminist Children's Literature

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Bibliography 

Index

Biography

Julie Fette is an associate professor of French Studies at Rice University in Houston. She is the author of Exclusions: Practicing Prejudice in French Law and Medicine, 1920–1945 and co-author of the French civilization textbook, Les Français. She holds doctorates from New York University and the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. She teaches modern French, history, society, and culture.

Gender by the Book is a must-read for anyone interested in gender and equality in children's books and magazines in the third millennium. Alternating between historical accounts of institutions and close readings of literary corpora, carefully documented, audacious in its analyses and its spotlight on the limits of "French-style" universalism, Julie Fette's essay should encourage other research of this kind, and open the eyes of those with ideological or commercial interests in silencing feminism. This is an essential reflection of public and academic utility on both sides of the Atlantic.

Nelly Chabrol Gagne, Associate Professor of Children's Literature, Université Clermont Auvergne

 

We live in societies that proclaim equality between the sexes as a fundamental value. Then how come inequality persists?  Of course, gender norms reproduce sexual hierarchies. But what explains the reproduction of norms? Fette’s highly rigorous and readable analysis of French children’s literature provides answers thanks to her methodology: representations are studied in light of the social conditions of their circulation. Taking context into account raises a disturbing question: why is the French cultural exception, supported by the State, not helping undo gender? Gender by the Book is essential reading.

Éric Fassin, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis

 

This important and overdue book foregrounds a range of different forms of French reading materials and infrastructures, many of which are entirely unfamiliar to an Anglophone audience. It sheds fascinating light on the role of individuals in processes of selection and pruning, which have received little attention in any context to date. Gender by the Book effectively opens up important new research avenues for scholars working across French studies, children’s literature, childhood cultures, and beyond.

Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children's Literature and Childhood Culture, Queen Mary, University of London