The Parker Inheritance By Varian Johnson: Article Analysis

In the book titled The Parker Inheritance written by Varian Johnson and the article “What are we teaching Boys when we discourage them from reading books about Girls” by Shannon Hale, introduce the topic of gender bias, which empathetically affects young and impressionable kids by telling them not to read books that mention a specific topic or protagonist. The social issue I am referring to is Gender Bias, gender bias is favoritism towards a gender, or prejudice against a gender. The Parker Inheritance is a mystery that has not yet been solved. In the book, the protagonists (Candice and Brandon) solve the mystery while also learning about the historical discrimination against Black people. Johnson sheds light on the historic discrimination

When people are only friends with the same gender, they tend to feel a lack of empathy for the other gender. Which can cause them many problems in the future. This can cause them to lack friendship and empathy with the opposite gender. This also becomes worse when a boy wants to read a book about a girl, but he cannot because it’s a “girl book” and he should be ashamed. Gender bias affects friendships and causes both genders to feel as if they should not become friends with one another. In The Parker Inheritance, Candice’s father states, “She needs to be around other kids, other girls” (pg.73) as he was speaking to Candice’s mother. This demonstrates gender bias because Candice’s dad is saying that Candice should be friends with girls more. But, this could cause Candice to feel a lack of empathy towards boys and a lack of friendship. For my second example, “What happens to a boy who is taught he should be ashamed of reading a book about a girl? Feeling empathy for a girl? Trying to understand how she feels?”. This furthermore explains my idea because boys are taught not to read books that are about girls and they should be

An example of this is,“It ticked Candice off but only for a second, because with him out of the way she could pick out books she wanted without him making fun of her like the boys at school would”. This supports gender bias because Candice cannot pick out books she likes without being alone or else she would be judged and made fun of. Another piece of evidence is, “I want that one”. His father pulled him away. No, that's a girl book”. This supports my claim because the boy’s father is telling him he can not read a book solely because it is about a girl. Thirdly, people should stop judging others for reading a genre of books. People should also stop calling books, boy books, and girl books. There is no such thing as that and you should be able to read what you want without being judged. An example of this is, “If that's true, there aren’t any old people or young people books either.” (p.185). This relates to my call for action because everyone should be able to read what book they want without being judged.“The goal is to encourage lifelong readers, and the more we try to tell kids which books are for them, the more reluctant the kids are to