So, I chose to use these dual protagonists to tell my story. And, it's worked out that both boys and girls enjoy the book. My second reason for using dual protagonists was because, I believe, without knowing it, I was psychologically equipped to record both the male and female point of view for The Pigman. In order to make any character believable, you have to put a piece of yourself into each of them. I think this also gets at what makes for the existence of a writer.
Writers are like chameleons.
They don't really survive unless they are able to adjust, change, and transform into many, many worlds. First, I decided that I wanted the lead character to collect pigs. Second, I wanted the lead character to be Italian. I realized years later that the reason was that an Italian grandfather named Nunno Frankie became a surrogate father for me, my sister, and his own grandchildren. It wasn't until high school that I began to write actual essays and short stories and plays.