For much of my childhood, we were a household of females. My mom, my sister and I lived in a house where nobody left the seat up, most of the dirty clothes actually made it into the hamper and nobody knew how to make realistic machine-gun sounds or burp the alphabet on cue. We also read a lot.
Fate now smirks when she sees me, as I am the only female in a house full of males – even the dog and both of the cats are boys. The presence of several Y chromosomes in my life has made me think harder about all things boy-related, including their reading preferences.
My oldest son is just about to turn 12. He still reads, but he has trouble finding things that interest him. He’s a bit “eh” about fantasy (he never really got excited about Harry Potter, something that he will never admit to his friends), he didn’t like Twilight because there was too much “love stuff” and he’s too young for books like Looking for Alaska by John Green. The past few months, he has found a few books that he really liked – Savvy by Ingrid Law was a big hit (even though it is sort of a “girl” book), and Feed by M.T. Anderson is a favorite. He’s always looking for things to read, but is quick to dismiss anything that is overly girlie.
I’ve been told by those who should know that boys don’t read. At least they don’t once they pass the age of 12. Oh, they might pick up an action/fantasy book or a good graphic novel on occasion, but as a species, they don’t read regular books. I’ve started to wonder if boys stopped reading regular books because there aren’t many regular books for them to read, or if writers and publishers have stopped marketing regular books to boys because it was a losing proposition.
With all this in mind, I have a confession to make – I write books for girls. Honestly, it didn’t start out that way. When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco is coming out in July, and as a picture book, that is for both boys and girls, but my YA Dirty Little Secrets is being marketed to girls. The book I’m writing now is definitely for girls (too much love stuff, as my son would say), and the zygote that is percolating and may turn into the book after that also seems to have a girl main character.
I feel bad about this. I want boys to have great books that will give them other perspectives on life without having to leave home. Even though my main character is a girl, I still hope some boys will pick it up and enjoy it. As my son says, they can always take the jacket off when they carry it around so that the girl on the cover doesn’t look weird.
If a book comes to me that has a strong boy character, I’ll write it, but I’m not sure I’ll go out looking for one. If you write it, will boys come? Honestly, I don’t know.
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Comments
1 mark fink // Jun 8, 2009 at 11:33 am
Cynthia:
I feel you, I really do. As a YA author with two books with boy protagonists, I often ponder whether or not boys will come to my books.
My first, Stepping Up is out now from Westside Books. I just got back from NY and BEA to promote it and received a very positive response.
My next book, The Summer I Got a Life, will be
out in the fall of this year. It also tells the story from a boy’s POV, but this one has a very stong
girl character and is a romantic comedy, really.
The ARC, with a picture of a boy and girl on the cover, was attractive to female readers.
Best of luck with your book.
Mark Fink
2 Cynthia Jaynes Omololu // Jun 8, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Thanks Mark – I really think that the books come with the main characters they come with. Trying to change a gender or an age in fiction is almost as hard as doing it in real life. I’m glad there are some great books out there with boys in mind. Good luck with your projects!
Cynthia
3 Doret // Jun 8, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I always know when a parent is shopping their son , in the YA section because they have this lost look on their face, that screams what about the boys. Publishers assume all boys like fanstasy or sports books. I’ve helped boys who hate both catergories. It does take longer to find good boys stories if they don’t like the above but its totally worth it when they come back in 2 weeks for another book. A few books to check out for your 12 yr old. Airman by Colfer, The Good Thief- its in fiction but a great crossover , the Sherman Alexie YA title of course and The Schwa Was Here (far from new, but its so good) Working at a bookstore, I’ve learned if you can up your boy book game knowledge, parents are happy you’re able to make good suggestions and become very loyal customers.
4 Cynthia Jaynes Omololu // Jun 9, 2009 at 9:10 am
Great suggestions – thanks for these, I’ll put them to good use. I do find that booksellers are great with ideas about what he might like to read.
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