“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – Margaret Mead
Many books have the power to initiate great conversations with your children about real-life situations. What we have today in the book club is one such recent release by Puffin Books titled “Pink and Blue” written by Ritu Vaishnav and illustrated by Vishnu M Nair.
Click here to buy the book now!
Why are we reading this book:
As adults, there are so many times when we conscientiously encourage gender notions and biases amongst our children. As a result, we unconsciously restrict the skill sets of children and fail to go by their abilities and their individual potential. To achieve a future where girls and boys grow up EQUAL with equal rights and responsibilities, it is essential and imperative that these gender notions and stereotypes should be tackled right at the early formative years. This book is an attempt to encourage kids to question these notions before they begin to shape their thinking and offer adults an opportunity to initiate this very necessary discussion.
Peek-a-boo into the book:
The instant moment when one holds the book and gazes at its cover, whereby the word pink is painted with blue and vice-versa, the book speaks volume about the content. It goes on to challenge various mental blockages that we carry on our head. Pink or blue are just as great colours as probably red, yellow, green or the rest! The length of the hair, the kind of work we do, the punches and the kicks we share are all independent or whether we are a boy or a girl!
So we are saying:
- Breaking gender stereotypes is the need of the hour and kids and adults need to think more from the perspective of capabilities and not gender biases.
- The absence of discrimination based on physical traits would go a long way to achieve greater parity in terms of actions and rewards. The social stigma needs to be tackled and books like these can kick-start such amazing discussions.
- The lucid language, the relatable examples and lovely illustrations enable to engage smallest of minds!
Janani S Koushik
Mansi Zaveri
