Thursday, May 12, 2005

Guys Write for Guys Read



Jon Scieszka did an interview on NPR about his favorite subject, boys and reading. Boys score worse in reading than girls and many of them admit their dislike of reading. He feels our efforts to be gender neutral on reading lists have done boys a disservice. Boys reading tastes are very different from girls. He asks us to ponder what is going on with boys and reading? Scieszka: "We are promoting such a narrow version of literacy that we are not including what a lot of boys like."

His latest book Guys Write for Guys Read is a collection of comics stories and advice for boys.

After you listen to the interview read the extra content on the site. I was thrilled to see a Frankie Pagoda story by Jack Gantos there. I read it aloud to my daughter and asked her to guess who the writer was. She knew it was Gantos immediately. No one else can write with that special mix of wincing pain, hilarity and outrageousness! The Jack Henry stories are a very special to our us. They made our family laugh and laugh and laugh one summer as we began learning to deal with Type 1 diabetes.

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