And this is why 12 year old girls start reading romance novels under the covers with a flashlight.
Says the librarian to the publisher:
5. More boy books.
I'm afraid this won't be popular, but I need more books for boys-as do most librarians who work with young people. I've noticed that lots of books with female characters aren't really about being female. In fact, in many cases, the main characters could just as easily have been males-and that would make my job a lot easier. Our young guys love Anthony Horowitz's “Alex Rider” series (Philomel), Dav Pilkey's stuff, and Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz's “Froggy” books (Viking). But a novel like Ann Halam's Siberia (Random House, 2005) could have included a male protagonist. (Sorry, Ann, but it's true.) And Gloria Whelan's The Impossible Journey (HarperCollins, 2003) could have featured an older brother and a younger sister-instead of 13-year-old Marya and her younger brother, Georgi. Am I being silly? Probably, but some of our boys have never read a complete book in their lives. It's important to offer them good, appealing stories, and, sad to say, that means stories with prominent male characters.
I distinctly recall that, between the ages of 10-15, I read virtually every Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley and Babysitter's Club book that I could discover in existence because the only other books for my age group that I couldn't devour in an hour (I could devour those fast, too, but when there's about 100 of each...) that weren't about boys. And most of the single-title books were about boys too. (Actually, I started reading "adult" books at 12-13 because they took longer to read, but that's another story.)
5. More boy books.
I'm afraid this won't be popular, but I need more books for boys-as do most librarians who work with young people. I've noticed that lots of books with female characters aren't really about being female. In fact, in many cases, the main characters could just as easily have been males-and that would make my job a lot easier. Our young guys love Anthony Horowitz's “Alex Rider” series (Philomel), Dav Pilkey's stuff, and Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz's “Froggy” books (Viking). But a novel like Ann Halam's Siberia (Random House, 2005) could have included a male protagonist. (Sorry, Ann, but it's true.) And Gloria Whelan's The Impossible Journey (HarperCollins, 2003) could have featured an older brother and a younger sister-instead of 13-year-old Marya and her younger brother, Georgi. Am I being silly? Probably, but some of our boys have never read a complete book in their lives. It's important to offer them good, appealing stories, and, sad to say, that means stories with prominent male characters.
I distinctly recall that, between the ages of 10-15, I read virtually every Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley and Babysitter's Club book that I could discover in existence because the only other books for my age group that I couldn't devour in an hour (I could devour those fast, too, but when there's about 100 of each...) that weren't about boys. And most of the single-title books were about boys too. (Actually, I started reading "adult" books at 12-13 because they took longer to read, but that's another story.)