Reading has been a popular pastime of both young girls and boys for centuries, which eventually sparked the creation of publishing specifically for children's interests. However, this book market was controlled by adults as they wrote, published, and bought books they believed children should read. Because books were written by adults, they often contain their expectations for how children should behave and what they should aspire to achieve. But as the roles of women and girls has changed drastically over the last two hundred years, so too have the books written for them. Earlier books modeled the appropriate behavior for young girls within traditional roles, while later books encouraged an active fight against those confining expectations. And as time progressed beyond that, books accepted girls’ varied interests and behavior beyond the traditional gender roles.