Guys Write for Guys Read - Jon Scieszka
Jon Scieszka is on a mission to get more boys into reading and the collection of short stories, Guys Write for Guys Read, is aimed at helping. Visit his website for more info about this program.
Does this collection further this goal? I'm not sure. I read it cover to cover, which is not really how it's intended to be read, but hey. It is a collection of short stories, not one longer than 5 pages, many in the 3 page realm, so as not to overwhelm reluctant readers. Many of the stories are damn funny. But, in honesty, I really don't know if the 8-12 years will really be attracted to it.
A portion of the stories fall under the category of " I never told my mother this, because she would have KILLED me", or in other words biographical accounts of the incredibly stupid things the authors did just being boys. (As a potential future mother I was a little disturbed at how often the idea of riding one's bicycle off a house roof came up.) These are HILARIOUS.
From Jack Gantos:
Many of the other stories were simply random stories from the authors' youths several discussing not fitting in, how reading/writing became important to them, what was expected of them as "guys". There are a couple of "I wish I had been closer to my dad/My dad just didn't get me." kind of stories that I think I could have done without. There were very few actual fiction stories, or maybe there were more than I thought. Some were difficult to distingush between fiction and "stupid acts".
All around, it was a fun read, but mostly from the point of view of learning more about a lot of (I consider) cool authors. I don't really have any sense of if handing a 10 year old boy this would be any more successful in getting him interested in reading than handing him Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
Does this collection further this goal? I'm not sure. I read it cover to cover, which is not really how it's intended to be read, but hey. It is a collection of short stories, not one longer than 5 pages, many in the 3 page realm, so as not to overwhelm reluctant readers. Many of the stories are damn funny. But, in honesty, I really don't know if the 8-12 years will really be attracted to it.
A portion of the stories fall under the category of " I never told my mother this, because she would have KILLED me", or in other words biographical accounts of the incredibly stupid things the authors did just being boys. (As a potential future mother I was a little disturbed at how often the idea of riding one's bicycle off a house roof came up.) These are HILARIOUS.
From Jack Gantos:
My mother said he was trouble the first time I met him. His name was Frankie Pagoda and he had just been catapulted across his yard like a human cannonball and landed badly in ours. He was moaning as I stood over him, not knowing what to do. He was on his back and at first he wasn't moving, but slowly he began to gyrate his arms and legs like a stunned crab.
Many of the other stories were simply random stories from the authors' youths several discussing not fitting in, how reading/writing became important to them, what was expected of them as "guys". There are a couple of "I wish I had been closer to my dad/My dad just didn't get me." kind of stories that I think I could have done without. There were very few actual fiction stories, or maybe there were more than I thought. Some were difficult to distingush between fiction and "stupid acts".
All around, it was a fun read, but mostly from the point of view of learning more about a lot of (I consider) cool authors. I don't really have any sense of if handing a 10 year old boy this would be any more successful in getting him interested in reading than handing him Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
posted by Chrissy at 5/19/2005 06:01:00 PM
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