The recent upswing in discussion of the "boy problem" in education begs for a more holistic analysis of gendered economic and social outcomes, and the origins and effects of gender stereotypes on even liberal, feminist parents.While girls and women are outperforming boys and men in the class-room and library these days, we must be careful not to confuse academic success with a guarantee of economic stability or long-term happiness.  We should be celebrating the fact that the expansion of educational opportunity has dramatically increased the proportion of US women who seek and obtain a formal education.  We should also remember that women throughout the world lack anything close to parity with men in terms of educational opportuinities. Furthermore, even if the academic paper gap is closing, the pay gap has not gone away.  As Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever discuss in Women Don't Ask (2003; Princeton), success in the classroom often fails to prepare women to be assertive in the work-place.  Girls and women are socialized to put the needs of others before their own, a finding common in industrial democracies as well as developing countries.  This tendency towards self-sacrifice leaves women ill-prepared to negotiate for salaries and demonstrate the same competitiveness that men learn as young boys.  Babcock and Laschever's interviews, surveys, and broader research demonstrate how women consistently undervalue the worth of their work and the extent to which this hinders women's advancement beyond the Ivy Tower.Insofar as education is "feminized" and books are unappealing to boys because they involve emotional content, educators, parents, and librarians should take this argument as a wake-up call.  Perhaps as parents and teachers, we should scrutinize how we treat our children differently based on their gender/sex.  Do we encourage boys to play outside more frequently than girls?  Could we accept a son or boy who spends most of his time reading for fun?  Is this an easier image to reconcile with a girl?  It's easy to see the connection between these early habits and later study skills.If a problem arises within a group of children, do we stop competitive behavior among girls earlier than among boys?  How would we react to a girl who said that she wanted to be "better than everyone else," even if it meant hurting someone's feelings?  How do we react to a boys who say the same thing, perhaps in the context of competitive sports?  Consider your reactions to "tomboys" versus your reactions to feminine boys.The bottom line here is that many of the gender "differences" we observe in children are the creation of the adults responsible for child-care.  Perhaps it's to the child's benefit to encourage reading beyond their comfort zones - for example, boys and girls reading about stereotypically "boy topics" and "girl topics".  One way we can promote these broader reading perspectives is to dismantle the salience of gendered associations such as "girls like reading emotional books."  Another is to refuse to accept the value judgements associated with "feminine" and "masculine".  Clearly, educators and parents want all children to enjoy reading and reap all of the benefits of literacy as well as education more broadly.  Rather than treating childhood preferences as completley fixed, however, we should reconsider our roles in shaping the perspectives of the children in our care.  We have only to gain from a thorough consideration of our actions and unintentional impacts they may be having.