A New York City Literary Lunch
I went to New York City recently. It was a combo trip to see my kids (my daughter works for NYU and my son, a musician, had a gig at a happenin' club), but also to meet with my editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. We've worked closely over the phone and via email on my young adult novels, but hadn't sat down to lunch for a couple of years.
My young adult fiction tilts toward boys, and I had made the mistake of drifting through the Teen Section of a big Barnes & Noble just the day before. The lack of quality, fictional realism for teenage boys was debilitating. A real spirit crusher. Of somewhere around 300 titles, about 275 were obviously "girl books". There were fantasy novels for boys, but one had to look hard to find any novel that a "normal" teenage boy--one who likes sports or the outdoors or cars or motorcycles–would want to read. In fact, I couldn't find one. Virtually no realistic fiction--no sports novels, no coming-of-age.
I knew there had to be something for boys, so I asked a clerk, "Where's the Gary Paulsen?" She took me away from the Teen Section, back into the frilly, "Kids" section. There was a good-sized shelf of middle level books and authors, including Avi, Christoper Paul Curtis, Paulsen, Sachar--and big selection of Matt Christopher, prolific author of thin, simple sports novels. But it was clear that Barnes & Noble had given up on teenage boys.
With that minor pall upon me, I had lunch with my editor, who confessed that he's up against it, too--that is, the strong bias toward girl books. He has begun to read manuscripts, he told me, with an eye toward "re-gendering." That is, 'I sort of like this book, but what if the main character was a girl instead of a boy?' He also said that to make a "boy book" work (i. e., sell well), the promotion/marketing side was "exhausting." In short, it was not an upbeat lunch, but we agreed to "keep the faith."
In the big picture, it's our American culture that's failing our teenage boys. The cumulative message throughout the media, advertising, sports, movies, etc. is that books and reading are for girls. A non-reading male population has dire effects at the personal level (young men who don't read fall behind in every way), but also upon citizenship and the nation (think of George W. Bush).
I remain convinced, however, that any young male will read if there is the right book for him–but if we don't publish them because book stores won't carry them, then the battle is lost. Luckily, my editor does not think that way. And neither do American teachers and librarians who are holding (just barely) the line against the tide of anti-intellectualism and cultural bias against boys. They are the ones who order books and get them into the hands of boys who need them--but just don't know it. Bless them for their work.
Posted by will weaver at 9/28/2009 2:26 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: young adult novels. books for boys. cultural bias against boys.
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: young adult novels. books for boys. cultural bias against boys.
Thanks for your thoughts on this important subject.
I grew up as a reluctant reader, in spite of the fact that my father published over 70 books. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for tween boys, that avid boy readers and girls enjoy just as much.
My blog, Books for Boys http://booksandboys.blogspot.com is dedicated to drawing attention to the importance of reading.
Keep up the good fight.
Max Elliot Anderson
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Having a teenage boy myself, I know exactly THOSE shelves. Tim just finished your novel Red Earth, White Earth, at his grandparents' urging and devoured Sherman Alexie's after that. Much of his reading is filled with fantasy books but I know HE craves more! I just have to keep feeding him. . . .
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. . . would a girl read a book about a girl that is written by a MAN? (I know a male author who writes girls YA under a female pseudonym.) What about making my male protag gay, as are both narrators in my adult books? Does this limit my audience appeal or make it greater? I'm assuming the general consensus is that young gay boys read more than their straight peers, and that girls would be more likely to read a book about a gay boy. . . .
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I was at the UND Children's Literature Conference today and asked the visiting editors this same question. They said that girls are the ones that read and buy the books.
I also see this in my current classes in high school. I teach two CIHS (College in the High School) classes in American Literature, and girls are predominantly enrolled in the classes. Guys don't want to "work that hard", even if they have the skills. Girls, are also the ones who are enrolling over guys in the advanced math classes.
I'm always buying books to stock in my classroom to engage the guys in English 11. Guys don't mind reading a book. But, it's got to be sports, hunting, or something really "edgy", SDRR.
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I just finished reading Claws and loved it. Thank you for your thoughts and for your books. I can't wait to read more of your work. I will definitely be recommending this work to my students starting tomorrow!
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Rap music proves that there remains a hunger for poetry and story. I think about this when I feel discouraged about this topic.
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You are RIGHT ON on your assessment of books for young boys to older boys. This lack of books of interest for this population not only impacts their reading of books but also their ability to read. I am a retired Sp. Ed. teacher and found that finding the book that the boy is interested in gets them excited about reading and using Sp. Ed. techniques to help their reading--both their reading and their interest in reading improves dramatically.
Having 2 sons who live in Brooklyn, I have visited NYC 4 times, now. Curiously, my oldest son works at NYU, also. He is also working on his Master's degree while working full-time. He also dj's on the side for extra income. My other son works as a case manager for formerly incarcerated women.
We visited the NYC public library--in their outdoor garden, complete with books, and I enjoyed it very much.
My sons are both avid readers. His Dad and I had a rule and that was that if they brought us a book when they were growing up, we would take time right then to read the book to them! Now, my 2 grandsons are having the same thing done with them as well.
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