Brief description of the issue

In several areas of the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands, books are difficult to access. Books that promote egalitarian relationships are even harder to find. Books are a key medium for the process of identifying and learning gender roles (Ducret and Le Roy, 2012). It is therefore important for children to have access to books in which, for example, boys experience emotions and play secondary roles, and girls are active, courageous and play leading roles. The vast majority of traditional children’s books and stories keep women in the private sphere (childcare and housework, passivity) and men in the public sphere (work, transport, outdoor work). In addition, the stories presented almost always feature heterosexual characters; very little space is given to same-gender or transgender families (Les Brutes, 2018). Books should free children from preconceived ideas and reductive roles that may be associated with them, as well as encourage reflection, the development of critical thinking, openness and tolerance (Kaléidoscope, 2018).