New Books in Popular Culture Julie Fette, "Gender by the Book: 21st-Century French Children's Literature" (Routledge, 2025)
Nov 7, 2025
Julie Fette, an Associate Professor of French at Rice University and author of "Gender by the Book", dives into the complex world of gender representations in 21st-century French children's literature. She discusses how libraries and book clubs impact what children read, revealing that 80% of sampled books still contain gender stereotypes. Fette also explores the influence of French universalism on literature and why publishers often prioritize male-centric content, fearing to alienate boy readers. However, she highlights the emergence of progressive publishers offering more equitable stories for children.
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Books Shape Early Socialization
- Julie Fette frames children’s books as key sites of early socialization and investigates how institutions shape which books reach kids.
- She links publishing, libraries, and schools to the reproduction or disruption of gender norms in 21st-century France.
Structural Advantages of French Publishing
- French children's publishing is highly professionalized with state support, a single book price, and a cultural belief that children deserve quality books.
- These structural features both enable creative publishing and create conditions for selective gatekeeping of representations.
Quality vs. Market Is A False Binary
- The supposed divide between “high-quality” and mass-market children’s books obscures how stereotypes persist across categories.
- Fette intentionally studies libraries, a dominant book club, and highbrow magazines to challenge that binary.
