"Boys who Made a Difference" by Michelle Roehm McCann (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

As 2018 draws to a close, there's absolutely no doubt which type of book has really flooded the market this year...
The original "Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls" book certainly opened the floodgates for a whole slew of similar books. Inspirational non-fiction titles detailing the lives of groundbreaking and pioneering folk who have excelled in their particular fields of life really have been just about everywhere, and the snowball of titles shows no signs of slowing down.

In "Boys who made a difference" by Michelle Roehm McCann the aim is to try and re-balance the scales away from "mighty girl" titles, to show the boys that there are just as many inspirational males as females (we won't go into the whole 'why are books still being gender-typed' thing here - I'm pretty sure through our ReadItTorials this year you've already got a flavour of how we feel about any book that includes "Boy" or "Girl" on its cover.

So boys can also read all about the early dreams and lives of some of the world's most inspirational men.

You're never too young to start dreaming about your ambitions in life, and the selection of folk here certainly did have their goals set high from a very early age.

From Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Nelson Mandela, Vidal Sassoon to Bob Dylan, Tony Hawk to Matt Groening this collection, from the author of "Girls Who Rocked the World", features young men from across history and around the globe who have all achieved remarkable things.

Also included are profiles of teenagers who are changing the world right now – boys like John Collinson, the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits, and Alec Loorz, who founded the non-profit organisation Kids vs. Global Warming. We particularly liked this touch in the book, offering contemporary heroes and inspirational teens who kids can more easily identify with and find out more about.

I'd honestly love to see some comparisons in sales figures between the 'boy' and 'girl' titles like these. I bet it'd make fascinating reading.