Monday, April 20, 2009
Boys. Books. Balls.
Sometimes we think boys like to read about sports because boys like to play sports, but boys don't play soccer just to win; they play to dream of being great. At something.
Books and stories are not that different from playing sports.
There are plenty of guys out there—baseball / soccer / sports guys. You know them. I've quit teams because of them. These are the dads focused on winning. For five year olds!
Most boys (and girls, too) will be culled out by high school, anyway, and another round at college, and the final cut: the pros.
Many grownup men have lost that loving feeling for why we play baseball, soccer, etc. It really is a game. It's not about winning. It's about dreaming to win.
Boys like books that let them dream about being great.
Ever watch a ten-year-old boy play basketball by himself?
Boys, who are allowed to dream about winning at an early age, win in whatever they do because they hold a dream inside of them. They don't have to hold the trophy in their hands.
What do we want for boys? And what books are they reading?
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9 comments:
Bravo! Awesome post.
The truth is, there is not enough out there for boys to read. It sounds to me like you have a new task at hand. ;)
PC-- thx. The task is completed. Now we need the agent involved. haha, evil chuckle.
Interesting. My son is only three, so his reading taste is a little hard to figure at this point, but he is obsessed with the race in the movie Cars.
Yes. It's all about the dream for boys. And grown up boys. And grown up girls . . .
sf: I'm a guy so I'm not 100% sure about girls. The reading list seems endlsess for my daughter who told none of the guys in 7th grade read Twilight. What do they read I asked. Nothing she said.
Paul,
I'm trying REALLY hard to revise a boy book about the pressure. There's just not the relief valve for them there is for girls.
The thing is, I thought boys were simple.
No WAY!
This is so true! What a wonderful way to put it. I would love to have some great books for my son. There really is a need there. Thanks for filling it. Now if I could just get him to stop playing b'ball for a few minutes and sit down and read. Hehe.
I saw you over on My Verbocity commenting on French. Indeed, those french verbs have been drilled into my brain and won't leave me alone. Nice to meet you!
What's interesting to me is that the boys I watch in my daughters class all gravitate toward non-fiction. I'm not sure what the barrier to fiction is - the commitment? The lack of facts? The lack of photographs? I want to shake them and tell them they can create much more interesting pictures in their own heads just by reading a novel. But alas, I think the school would kick me out for shaking children...
I think I would respond by saying yes, boys like fiction but more realistic fiction as opposed to sf/f or god forbid chik lit.
I'm sorry I am a guy. I can't help it. I was born this way. We like the opposite of chik-lit (you fill in the rhyme |:~)
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