Shaken & Stirred: Boys Reading

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March 03, 2008

Boys Reading

So one of the many excellent things I didn't have a spare second to post about last week is Colleen Mondor's latest amazing project. The thing about Colleen is, if something's bugging her, she pulls people together and does a really cool thing to address it. I'm always honored to participate.

This time out, she's heading up a group effort organized around a dedicated site that will serve as a resource for encouraging boys to read, connecting them with good book recommendations and new authors, etc. The new site will be known as Guys Lit Wire and you can read more about the plans over at her site. In particular, we need more guys, so if you're interested in participating drop her a line.

Posted at 10:15 AM in Children's Lit Fabulosity | Permalink

Comments

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How is this different from John Scieszka's Guys Read (www.guysread.com) effort? Not to rain on parades or say there can only be one--I'm just wondering if the folks involved are aware of the other site and how do they see themselves differently in terms of mission/content/etc?

Posted by:justin | March 04, 2008 at 02:49 PM

Yep, everyone's aware of all those efforts and not looking to duplicate them. I think more to complement them, in fact.

Posted by:Gwenda | March 04, 2008 at 03:26 PM

Hi Justin!

One big difference is that we are aiming for teenage boys - pretty much exclusively over the age of 14. The other thing is that we have a big group of daily posters - 21 of them - so every Mon - Fri there will be new content in a very active blog. The group who will be posting is all over the place in terms of experience - authors - librarians - students - booksellers - artists - and on and on. So it's a pretty eclectic group.

I think what Jon has done with Guys Read is very impressive - basically we're just going to look to older readers for our site and try to engage them more directly with the blog.

Hopefully the two sites will complement each other perfectly.

Posted by:Colleen | March 04, 2008 at 04:11 PM

About

Appendices

Read Read

E. Lockhart: Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, The
You might think the world doesn't need any more boarding school novels, but if you haven't read this one then you're wrong, wrong, wrong. E. Lockhart has surpassed herself with this fable of a girl coming into her own and challenging the boy's club at her prep school -- while falling in love with its members at the same time. Lockhart never simplifies or skirts gender issues and power dynamics, and lets Frankie be realistic instead of a treatise disguised as a character. The sly omniscient narrator tells the story perfectly, and leaves hope that maybe one girl can change the world. More novels as funny and true and perfect as this one, please.
Kathi Appelt: The Underneath
Appelt's first novel is a beautiful, magical fantasy for younger readers that will instantly become a classic. Seriously. I can imagine this book being in classrooms right alongside Charlotte's Web in a hundred years. The writing is poetic in the good way, and there's a lamia. Children are going to absolutely fall in love with Appelt's equally kind and brutal universe, where love conquers most, and it can take millenia to come to your senses.
Jincy Willett: The Writing Class
With her second novel, Willett matches the perfect pitch and execution of her brilliant short stories. Every writer will want to read this novel--very little wincing is involved, but expect a great deal of laughter. C and I found ourselves reading pieces aloud, after howling provoked the "what's so funny?" question. As with any good writing workshop or class, the characters become more appealing as you get to know them, and ultimately what she has pulled off is a satisfying mystery, and a satisfying exploration of humanity. Amy Gallup is a character to remember.
Karen Joy Fowler: Wit's End
A new novel by Karen Fowler really is something to be excited about, unlike many of the writers for whom such praise gets bandied about. (If you're smirking because you think you know something about her work from the title--not the book--The Jane Austen Book Club, please go sit in the corner and read any of her novels. You're welcome.) This is an unmystery-like mystery, concerned not so much with dead bodies--though there are plenty--as with the mysteries of healing and the heart, politics and people. How is it that a writer gets a lens on the present that's as revealing as the one she employs in historical fiction? Now that's a mystery. Highly recommended.
Steve Erickson: Zeroville
Steve Erickson novels are often like dreams, or revelations, or discovered artifacts, or written just for you. Zeroville's no different, although it is perhaps the most readily graspable example of his work to date. The Rosetta Stone is there; the secret decoder ring is a film projector. The dizzying Hollywood confidential stylings will make your inner film geek happy, but the uncovering of a truly mythic cinematic story--since cinema has existed forever--of sacrifice and redemption is even more memorable. See also: this review.
Ursula Dubosarsky: The Red Shoe (Neal Porter Books)
Set in Sydney during WWII, this wonderful novel travels between the view from inside each of three sisters. Dubosarsky perfectly captures the differences that come from being the younger, older, or middle child. Perfectly conjuring the period, and yet creating a completely accessible story, the narrative contrasts chapters focusing on the family with interstitials from the Sydney newspapers of the time, stories of polio, the H-bomb, and a defecting Russian spy (who happens to be in hiding next door). Nothing here is heavy-handed. Everything is perfectly balanced. It's a beautiful, beautiful novel. See my full take here.