ARE MY KIDS WEIRD?

Though I am not a fan, I have read more than my fair share of Noddy books to my kids over the years. For some reason the little buggers actually seem to enjoy stories about this nauseating little creature. As far as I am aware, I have read them quite clearly, whether in English or in French, so I am more than puzzled that each of my kids in turn has assumed independently (given there are years between each kids' interest in Noddy) that Noddy is female! So far Charlotte, Léon and Anna have all argued with me that Noddy is a girl and even after opening at a random page and reading 'He drove his little car round Toy town' or similar, they still remain unconvinced. I am sure that when I saw Noddy books as a child, I was in no doubt as to his gender, though he didn't look much different to today. Does anyone else have this issue?