When everyone looks at George, they think they see a boy. But George knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. In this book, George, a 4th grader tries to navigate her true identity and sexuality in a world that is 'black and white,' or in this case, is 'blue and pink.' Through her struggles of being a labeled a boy, George finds it more difficult to share her feelings about who she really is with her peers and family in fear of what they might think. However, when George's teacher announces to the class that they are going to be putting on a play based on the book Charlotte's Web, she realizes that this could be her chance to show the world that she is a girl, not a boy. Excited about this opportunity, George expresses interest to her friend Kelly in wanting to try out for the role of Charlotte. But George is worried about what people would think about 'a boy' playing a 'girls' role. Will George get to play the role of Charlotte in the play, and show the world who she really is? Or will cultural 'gender stereotypes' get in the way of people letting George be who she wants to be?
When first looking at the cover of this book, the author alludes to his readers that this story is about a BOY named George through his choice in colors of George's name. However, once the readers begins to read more about this character George, they realize that while George looks like a boy outside, they know that she feels like a girl. I think by illustrating the book this way, sets up the umbrella theme of this book which is on gender stereotypes.
Considering this theme, I believe that the author really tries to bring to his readers attention how our culture associates certain objects, roles, and even colors to certain genders. For instance, when George's teacher asked the class to write about what color would they be and why? Several students share their responses, expect George.
"Janelle said she would be fuchsia because it was bright and dark at the same time. Chris wanted to be orange because it was the only color that was a food. George wanted to be pink so that people would know she was a girl, but she hadn't written that down." (Gino 2015).
This passage illustrates just one of the many examples in this book that gets us to think about the idea of gender stereotypes, or in this case, how certain colors only pertain to boys and other colors pertain to only girls. As a culture, when we think of colors like blue and pink, who do we associate with those colors? Blue for boys? Pink for girls? What if a boy prefers the color pink like George?
I think by addressing such cultural and subconscious 'gender stereotypes' in our society, helps readers, like me, to realize how it important to not let those stereotypes define who we are and what we like as individuals. More importantly, as an educator, I think it is important in de-railing cultural gender stereotypes for our students, to show them that there is no limit on who they be and what they are allowed to like as individuals. Going off of this idea of breaking gender stereotypes, it is also essential for teachers to create a 'safe' space for those individuals who may feel marginalized by the 'norms' of society (e.g. LGBTQIA+ students). In creating a safe space for these students, we are allowing them to find their voices and creating a supportive community for them.