The tip of a huge problem:

Posted on April 21, 2014 by KG

‘Boys are being put off reading because of the influence women have on children’s literature, says an award-winning British children’s author.
Jonathan Emmett warned that children’s books were too girly because of the influence of mostly female panels of editors, publishers, reviewers and judges.
One publishing company’s research suggested women bought 95 per cent of picture books for children, he added.
..The writer believes boys are being starved of what they enjoy in books, such as swashbuckling pirates, battles, or technical details about space ships and so are driven to more action-packed video games instead…’
He doesn’t mention the fact that most teachers are female and that’s surely part of the problem, too.
Update: Boys would benefit greatly from reading books such as Oswald Bastable’s  ‘Meddlers in Time’. It sure beats “Amanda’s new Pony’..
As does Francis Porretto’s ‘Which Art In Hope’. Both books will spark the imagination and curiosity of young men.

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20 Responses to The tip of a huge problem:

  1. Oswald Bastable says:
    April 21, 2014 at 14:13

    I’m doing what I can… ;-)

  2. Lucia Maria says:
    April 21, 2014 at 17:40

    I find my boys are put off reading because they are too distracted with computer games. I get them back into the books by either reading to them, or making them listen to an audio book.

    I look for male authors for them as well, not being a complete idiot!

    Ok, that reminds me, have to get that zombie version of what Dante experienced before writing his classic poem for my youngest son on audio book.

  3. Oswald Bastable says:
    April 21, 2014 at 18:51

    Thanks for the plug!

    That book is just a couple of days away from 10,000 downloads.

    • Oswald Bastable says:
      April 21, 2014 at 18:57

      I have done a little pre planning on a adventure for younger kids- my current stuff is really 15+ (my recommendation)
      It will be about the misadventure of the children of my current characters- 12 year olds running amok on a planet where all the most exciting toys sit on unlocked sheds….

  4. Francis W. Porretto says:
    April 21, 2014 at 18:57

    The problem is essentially one of adequate promotion. Quality will always tell, so the main challenge is to get the word out to the intended consumer — and by that I don’t mean Junior’s Mom!

    (This tome ain’t too shabby for a young adult, either.)

  5. George says:
    April 21, 2014 at 21:18

    The reality is that women read more books than men and steer kids into what they enjoy reading. ‘Chick lit’ is just the adult version — what they feel what they wear what they eat who they are in relationships with etc etc. Look at the predominance of women writers and reviewers in places like Beatties Book Blog.
    They set the tone. No wonder boys are bored witless.

    If I was asked to recommend reading material for teenage boys, it would be some of the classics RL Stevenson’s Treasure Island for one. ‘The Cruise of the Cachalot’ by Frank T Bullen is over a hundred years old — a true story that Rudyard Kipling described as the greatest adventure yarn he’d ever read. The Log of a Sea Waif by the same author details his life at sea from the age of 12 through 16. Gripping stuff for young blokes [and old ones too]

    Parents need to inspire boys to be boys and not girls that don’t grow tits. I had some house guests recently, they had two boys 9 & 12. A crying session by both of them brewed up over who was hogging the iPad game. Parents started a mollifying regime of who would have it for how long, getting them to agree through their tears. Cringeworthy shit that was beyond embarrassing. I thought I would help, I brought out a .22 rifle and asked them if they would like to go out and help get on top of the rabbit menace around here. The mother looked at me like I was the anti-Christ, clutched her two ninnies and asked me if it was a real gun. They didn’t want to go out because it was cold. How the blazes they will one day be grown men I don’t know, but they could start by reading about others that have.

  6. Darin says:
    April 21, 2014 at 22:56

    Clive Cussler is a brilliant kids author :mrgreen:

    Rush Limbaugh has recently came out with a couple children’s books about the founding of the US.Haven’t read them myself,but they have liberals’ heads exploding so they can’t be all bad.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/09/rush_limbaughs_new_childrens_book_is_number_one_on_amazon.html

  7. minette says:
    April 22, 2014 at 13:14

    Everything said here about boys and books is absolutely true and disgraceful.

    My 9 year old grandson’s female Kiwi teacher at an Australian school in Singapore has asked that he not read ‘The Lord of the Flies’ as it is too aggressive. I was speechless that she should try to deny a child access to a literary classic.

    • KG says:
      April 22, 2014 at 14:08

      And how many times is that being repeated all across the West, Minette?
      The literature that has always helped form boys’ images of manhood and honour–and reality–is being withheld from them by women who know nothing whatsoever about what it takes to become a man.
      It’s a particularly vicious form of child abuse, aimed only at boys by idiots and ideologues who will never be held accountable for their abuse of trust.
      It bloody infuriates me.
      And it infuriates me that the female teachers I’ve spoken to about this have been completely unaware of the deeper meanings and messages embedded in many of the classics that boys used to enjoy. They’re full of PC nonsense and totally ignorant, but busily turning boys into girls sans breasts. :evil:
      No wonder so many young males now equate thuggery with manhood.

  8. KG says:
    April 22, 2014 at 14:09

    I could go on about this at some length, so I’ll shut up now.

  9. KG says:
    April 22, 2014 at 14:31

    On the subject of books, I find it very interesting–and telling–that almost all books written by women are reviewed only by women.
    But for an example of a woman who can really write, I recommend Susan Fromberg Schaeffer’s “The Madness of A Seduced Woman”. Superb writing!

    • Darin says:
      April 22, 2014 at 21:58

      Who else could make it through that crap?For an eye opener look at any “womens” magazine,a person needs to be mentally deranged to produce that s— :shock: