The Coco Award is being given to books that show genders acting in non-stereotypical ways. For example, depicting girls doing something other than being the saved princess, or boys being depicted as something other than the prince, or the knight slaying the dragon. This award is inspired by the book Interpreting Literature with Children, by Shelby A. Wolf. In Chapter five "Gender in Children's Literature," she qoutes Peterson and Lach to sum up the gender stereotypes in children's literature: "Males always outnumber females by a significant proportion regardless of whether the characters depicted were humans, animals, machines, or fantasy characters. In addition males were most likely to be portrayed as positive, active and competent, while females were likely to be portrayed as negative, passive, and incompetent." Nominations should be books for children ages 6-12. Examples could include books showing boys playing with dolls or helping their mothers cook or clean. Girls could be playing football or helping their dad work on the car. The characters should be seen in non-stereotypical ways, doing something not usually associated with their gender. The deadline for nominations is on Feburary 19.