Guest Post from Jackson Keene: Combining Action-Adventure, Historical & Contemporary Fiction for Boy Readers

Today I'm delighted to bring to you another guest post, this one from author Jackson Keene, on books for boy readers. He has combined genres in his novel NOLICHUCK! TJ'S WILD FRONTIER ADVENTURE, and it sounds like Jackson's truly hit the mark.

If you are interested in appealing to boy readers, also check out my guest post from Andy Sherrod in addition to Andy's blog. 

Here's Jackson:

It’s been my experience––both as an avid reader in my own youth as well as what I know about middle-graders and high school male readers of today––that guys in general are just as demanding, detailed, and devoted bookworms as the girls.  We just like different kinds of reading.

Most boys and men like action and adventure.  Loads of it.  Preferably with shooting, fighting, and necessary fatalities to the bad guys.  But without being gratuitous or gory.  Plot twists, intrigue, subtleties, and a little romance are fine, too, with a greater amount of amorousness allowed for the more mature.

But as a group, males devour strong action.  And we also like to see the underdog win.  Overcome overwhelming odds.  The truth is, ordinary guys who wind up doing extraordinary things are more appealing to many of us than reading about superheroes that are always expected to come out on top.

This is exactly what I’ve attempted to do in NOLICHUCK.

What I’ve also done is written a tale that combines historical fiction with contemporary fiction:  A lot of adventure and a touch of young romance in the distant past, followed by continuing big adventure and a little love in the present.  Not so much amorousness that it turns off the pre-teen and teen male reader.

Our hero, TJ, is just an ordinary fourteen year old kid with extraordinary problems at home and school:  A broken up family from his parents’ bitter divorce, evil bullies almost every afternoon, failing grades, boring classes, snobby girls, mean teachers, cut from basketball tryouts, few friends. 

Life is rough for him.  His confidence is below ground level, and his courage is suspect.

And then that mysterious little green book had to go and throw him into the past.  And not just any past, but into the untamed forbidding forests of 1802 eastern Tennessee along with the savage Indians, wild beasts, bloodthirsty robbers, backwoods ruffians, and log cabin living!  Yup, it’s definitely not 2011 Knoxville anymore.

And he thought his present life was bad news!  But TJ’s adventures are only beginning.  Along the way, he fights off killer beasts and bandits and braves, meets the young Davy Crockett, gains a world of confidence in himself, finds his first real love, and is befriended by a fantastic frontier family who really has it together.

When he returns to the present, he’s a brand new person––but there're killers loose in his house, bullies waiting to beat him up at school, a pretty new girl at Highland High he's hasn't even seen yet.  And the aftermath of the little green book to deal with!

Links to Nolichuck:

http://www.trebleheartbooks.com/WDKeene1.html

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12964375-nolichuck-tj-s-wild-frontier-adventure

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nolichuck-tjs-wild-frontier-adventure-jackson-keene/1105860532?ean=9781936127504

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Nolichuck

Guest Post: Andy Sherrod on Boy Readers

Today I have the honor of hosting my Vermont College of Fine Arts fellow grad Andy Sherrod. Andy is not only a talented writer and all-around nice person, he's also made a close study of how boys read and why many don't, and how we as writers can appeal to so-called "reluctant readers."

Here's his research - I'd love to hear what readers think!

It’s Not Just About Gender

Many boys lose interest in voluntary reading around the age of ten or twelve earning them the label “reluctant reader.” I prefer “aliterate reader.” An aliterate reader is one who CAN read but chooses not to engage in voluntary reading because he thinks books are boring. Here’s how I know:

A national survey conducted by the Young Adult Library Services Association asked boys, an average age of 14, to list their top obstacles to reading.

39.9% said reading was no fun.

29.8% said they were too busy.

11.1% liked other activities better.

7.7% said “I can’t get into the stories.”

4.3% said they just weren’t good at it.

The top four responses, a whopping 88.5%, are essentially saying “books are boring.” Then along came Harry Potter…Hmm, they aren’t reluctant after all, they are aliterate.

So what makes for a good boy book?

Many believe that a good boy book MUST have a male protagonist. One study shows that, yes, boys prefer it by 61.7% but there is another dynamic at work. In a study by researchers at the University of Georgia, preschool children were read four stories.

1.     A male protagonist engaged in a stereotypically male activity (playing with trains).

2.     A female protagonist engaged in a stereotypically female activity (playing with dolls).

3.     A male protagonist playing with dolls.

4.     A female protagonist playing with trains.

The boys’ number one pick was the male protagonist playing with trains. However, coming in second was the GIRL playing with trains pointing to the fact that the ACTIVITY is as important as the gender of the main character.

In an article by Thomas Newkirk entitled “Misreading Masculinity: Speculations on the Great Gender Gap in Writing”, he cites research that analyzes the reading and writing differences between boys and girls. Here’s the conclusion:

In their own writing, girls keep their main characters in familiar surroundings, they are connected to a community (friends), and the conflict involves relationships.

Boys, in their own writings sent their protagonists “out there” away from the familiar, they acted alone (sometimes in isolation) to conquer physical challenges.

Many children’s books written today have both genders acting in concert with a friend or in groups, staying in a familiar place and dealing with relationship issues. No wonder so many boys think books are boring.

Here’s the take-home message. When selecting a book for an aliterate boy reader, do NOT consider the gender of the protagonist ONLY. Choose books where the main character:

1.     Acts alone

2.     Takes off somewhere

3.     Must overcome physical challenges.

If you do, you have a better chance of capturing the interest of an aliterate reader.