As pointed out below in the comments by the wondeful Jenny D., Scott Westerfeld has wondered about this whole girl vs boy thing as it pertains to his own books. As he is a wildly popular YA writer you can check out the 100+ comments left on the subject that discuss all the ins and outs of what real live teens think about the whole deal. (A lot of it seems to boil down to the cover and cover copy, as Jenny mentioned.)
For The Looking Glass Wars in particular, I still say it works both ways. And for Alice in Wonderland, well - sorry, I have to say it's more girly than anything else. The problem is at the very beginning, where she is sitting with her sisters eating a picnic on the side of the river. I think boys who read it will find a lot to enjoy, but getting them to read it could be a chore. (And lead them to hate it like it did for Frank Beddor.)
I'm always thinking boy or girl when I review books for my column and it bothers me how I always end up girl-heavy. The June column will be the first one I have been able to do with an even split of boy and girl books. That's not necessary, but it's nice to see. Next month is nonfiction so the sexes don't really apply but August is shaping up to be a column about "bookish girls". I had so many of this kind stacking up around here that it couldn't be helped. Hopefully Sept will be a bit more boy-centric.
