This author would like to share the conclusions of her investigation on award-winning children's books by SPA / RTP in the category of "Best Children and Youth Book", which aimed to analyse gender stereotypes in these books and inquire about the presence of gender concerns in the requirements underlying their selection (Nunes, 2017). The conclusions were in agreement with other international studies (Hamilton et al, 2006), revealing a female underrepresentation and other gender inequalities in dimensions such as hobbies, leisure time and household tasks, where rest and "doing nothing" periods of the male characters contrast with the cooking and cleaning chores of the female characters. Assuming that there is no such thing as a “bad book” when it comes to relying on it to address gender equality, this takes us to the important role of mediation, at its different levels. Present from birth, or even before that, in the womb, books are a privileged vehicle to learn about the world and about ourselves. In their many teachings, books transmit values and ideologies, such as gender and power relations, educating about men and women, who they are and what they can do. Books can be important allies in different educational contexts and it is imperative that we reflect on their contribution and also the important role of the different mediators such as parents (Deloache, Cassidy and Carpenter, 1987), educators, storytellers/ publishers/designers/authors/illustrators to use them to display diverse role-models, challenge gender stereotypes and highlight the conquests we have had in gender equality matters.

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childrensliterature,genderstereotypes,awardedbooks