Who Wants to Read a Book with Me?

Have you heard about The Mama's Boy Myth? This new book, by author Kate Stone Lombardi, makes the case that being close to your sons is not a bad thing -- that it might, in fact, make them stronger.

I'm intrigued, and I want to read the book. Anyone want to read along with me? I'd love to do a virtual book club and chat. If you're interested, leave a comment. I'll fill you in on the details next week.

And please -- pass the word around. The more "boy moms," the better!

The Nanny Question

Here in small town middle-America, nannies are pretty rare. Babysitters? Check. Daycare providers? Check. Nannies? Cue the crickets.

Never mind, though. According to Dr. Dennis Friedman, any woman who outsources the care of her son to another woman may be putting him at risk of future infidelity.

Dr. Friedman is the author of, The Unsolicited Gift: Why We Do The Things We Do, which, according to TIME magazine, "explores how a mother's love for her offspring can determine how those children behave as adults." And leaving your baby boy in the care of another woman, Dr. Friedman says, "creates a division in his mind between the woman he knows to be his natural mother and the woman with whom he has a read hands-on relationship," a division that essentially teaches him that it's perfectly normal to have a family woman at home and a mistress to "take care" of him.

Well then. Even if Dr. Friedman's hypothesis was true -- and his detractors are quick to point out that he provides no proof or statistics -- how exactly does he propose we solve this problem? Require maternity nurses to settle in for long chats with boy-moms, chats to explain that the mothers' presence is absolutely required to prevent their sons from cheating? Special food stamp affadavits for boy-moms, because, you know, moms must stay home the entire first year to ensure the future stability of society?

What ever happened to teaching responsibility and values? Whether a mom works or not, whether she physically cares for her son 100% or 60% or 35% of the time, she can influence her son -- not by her mere presence, but by her words and actions. And so, by the way, can his dad.

Ultimately, though, any blame for adult infidelity lies solely with the cheating adult. Our job as parents is to provide our sons with a firm foundation. From there, the choices they make are their own. If one of my sons decides to cheat on his wife in his mid-40s, I may feel many things, but guilt, I can promise you, will not be one of them.

The Tag Jr. Winner Is....

Owen's Mom! Owen, I believe you might be getting a Tag Jr. Reading bundle this holiday season.

Owen and his mom enjoy reading The Little Red Caboose, which is one of my favorite books too. My boys love it, and so did my brothers, especially Brother #2. I think of him each and every time I pick up the book.

What books bring back memories for you? Do you sons enjoy any books that you loved as a child?

Books for Boys: The Legend of Vinny Whiskers

Happy October! Today, we kick off a new feature: Books for Boys. Approximately once per week, I'll highlight a Book for Boys (or Boy Parents), a book I think your boys will love -- or one that will make your job as a boy parent a little bit easier. Each Book for Boys day will include a Q & A with the author, providing you with a behind-the-scenes look at the book. (I sound like Dr. Suess there, don't I?)

Today's book is The Legend of Vinny Whiskers, which I previously reviewed in June. Author Gregory Kemp is kicking off a two-week blog tour today, and his first stop is Blogging 'Bout Boys.

Where did you get the idea for The Legend of Vinny Whiskers?

GK: That’s a popular question people ask me, but I find it difficult to pin down. It probably came from a few different directions. I tend to give animals, like our dog, a voice. It’s not quite what you’d expect. Our dainty little Italian greyhound talks tough. She’s also interested in science and a fan of William Shatner. My wife thinks it’s pretty funny. I’ve given voices and personalities to the squirrels in the yard, animals in the zoo. So when I was entertaining the idea of writing a novel, an animal story seemed natural.

The other consideration was picking the right animal. In stories, I’ve always preferred underdog heroes over superstars. Secret agents, kid geniuses, knights—while they can be fun, they lack the depth and complexity that exists in the real world. Real people are fallible, yet real people can be heroes. A prairie dog hero offered a lot here. Turning a burrowing animal at the bottom of the food chain into a bona fide legend got me excited. Boomer Lookout, the protagonist of my novel, is not especially good at anything. And he’s got a lot of issues. To me, he’s the ultimate underdog. Plus he lives in the dirt which is funny.

Why do you think this book will appeal to boys?

GK: I don’t have to guess here. I’ve already heard from boys who identify with the main character, Boomer Lookout. Boomer is just a regular kid prairie dog trying to find his way. He doesn’t have any magic powers or special skills, yet over the course of the novel, Boomer finds ways to succeed. I’m very proud of this because I think it holds true to life. You don’t have to do spectacular things to succeed. I think if you give life an honest effort, everyone can find success.

I like the fact that you use big words, like conspicuously and ingenuity. Was that an intentional decision?

GK: Not at all. I originally wrote the book without thinking about the audience. I’ve since been told that books should always been written for a target audience, but I was just trying to write a fun book that might make you think when it’s all over. Hopefully the vocabulary is suitable for the audience. If kids find a tough word here or there, I’d just offer them this advice: don’t let it get in the way of enjoying the story. There are about 65,000 words in Vinny and if you don’t know a few that’s not bad at all! If you learn one or two, all the better.

What kinds of books did you like to read as a boy? How did your likes (and dislikes) then influence Vinny Whiskers?

GK: My favorite books growing up were Choose Your Own Adventures. You know the type, right? “You are stranded on a deserted island. Ahead on the beach you see a wooden chest. In the distance you hear the beating of drums. If you want to investigate the chest, turn to page 10, if you want find the source of the drums, turn to page….” These were fun for me. The plot took all sorts of sudden turns.

I also grew up reading Piers Anthony, the fantasy writer. The Xanth series was a favorite. His creativity is off the chart and I want my writing to be original and fresh.

What advice would you have for young boys who are interested in writing and storytelling?

GK: The boiler plate answer for this would be read, read, read. Okay, I can’t argue with that in principle because you can learn a lot by reading other people’s work. But I would qualify the advice by saying, “Read and think.”

Getting lost in a good book won’t help your writing. You need to stop and ask yourself what is good about the book? What makes you want to turn the page? A good story will have a clear answer for this.

At the same time, you’ve got to practice your writing. Start with a one page story, something like, young Jimmy wants to know what’s inside all the delivery boxes at his neighbor’s house. Put an obstacle in Jimmy’s way like the neighbors are out of town and he can’t ask them or they have a really big dog that Jimmy fears.

Lastly, deliver on the story. Jimmy sneaks over and peeks in a window. What does he find? Why all the boxes? Perhaps there are copies of The Legend of Vinny Whiskers in the boxes and Jimmy’s neighbor is my biggest fan. That’s a very good story if you ask me! When you think you’ve got the story right, go back and make it better. I wrote at least five major drafts of The Legend of Vinny Whiskers. I don’t claim it’s perfect, but it’s a lot better than where I started. And by golly, pay attention in English class!

Book Review: The Legend of Vinny Whiskers

I love finding a great read-aloud book.

The Legend of Vinny Whiskers tells the tale of Boomerang Lookout, a young prairie dog with a legendary name. Imagine being named Harry Potter -- after Harry #1 had done his thing.

Like Harry, Boomerang's name carries certain expectations. Lookouts are the sentinels of the Ward, the praire dogs' home, and for generations, the Lookout Manuever has been their signature move. Boomer, however, is unable to master the Manuever.

Making matters worse is the fact that the original Boomerang Lookout disappeared ages ago, one of the infamous "Lost Six," a group of prairie dogs who left the Ward and never returned.

But Boomer is a prairie dog of great curiousity -- and destiny. From the back of the book:

When young Boomer decides to venture beyond the Ward, he learned the true story of his namesake. The original Boomerang Lookout was the first King of the Tubes, an underground city populated by a band of small animals called the Alignment of the Wee. Years earlier, when control of the Tubes was passed to the rat Vinny Whiskers, the Wee were betrayed. Vinny opened the Tubes to the rats from the sewers, and the Wee were expelled. Ever since, the Wee have search for a way to win back their home. When a young prairie dog emerges with a legendary name, a showdown between the Alignment of the Wee and the Rat Nation seems inevitable.

Aimed at tweens, I'd say this book captures its market perfectly: My eleven- year-old commandeered the book the moment it arrived and was up til 1 am reading. He simply couldn't put it down. Now, I'm reading it aloud to my eight- and six-year-olds (with the eleven-year-old often listening in) and they're entranced. The good news is that I am too. I'm as eager to settle in and read as they are!

The Legend of Vinny Whiskers , by Gregory Kemp, reminds me a bit of another rat adventure, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. If you're looking for a summer read, check it out.

Guest Blogger: Max Elliot Anderson

Max Elliot Anderson writes books for boys and hosts Books for Boys, a blog that’s all about encouraging boys to read. His seven published books include Newspaper Caper, Terror At Wolf Lake, North Woods Poachers, Mountain Cabin Mystery, Big Rig Rustlers, The Secret of Abbott’s Cave, and Legend of the White Wolf.

As a child, I grew up as a reluctant reader. In a family of seven children, I wasn’t especially pushed to read, so I never formed good reading habits. This was ironic because my father has published over 70 books – a number of these written for children.

A few years ago I decided to seriously study books for boys, with an eye to discovering some of the reasons for boys’ lack of interest in reading. I discovered books with large blocks of copy, making it easy for a reluctant reader to lose his place on the page, and books produced on a brown shade of paper with small type.

A reluctant boy reader is not going to be interested in endless sections of detail and description. He wants something happening on every page, fast action, and humor.

Many children’s books were written with girls as the primary audience. The books for boys tended to include dragons, wizards, or the dark side.

So I set out to write the kind of stories I would have liked to read when I was a child. As a result, my books are larger than most, the paper is bright white, and the type is larger. Sentences and paragraphs are short, the books contain a lot of humor, heart-pounding action, adventure and dialog. Most chapters end in a cliffhanger, nearly forcing the reader to start the next chapter.

I also write good stories with moral and ethical elements. Hopefully, at some time in the future, these concepts will be useful as boys grow into men.

Books for Boys

Notice how I havne't updated the poll for awhile. That's for a reason: I wanted to talk about it before we moved on!

Novels won the contest, by a hair (5 to 4, if you're keeping count.) Most of my children aren't yet independent readers, but that hasn't stopped us from sharing and enjoying novels together. Here are some of our favorites:

• the Harry Potter series. I'm currently reading these aloud to the boys -- and let me tell you, it takes a LONG time to read a book that's over 600 pages! The good news is that I'm a huge Harry fan myself (yes, I was one of the crazy people who pre-ordered the last book and then stayed up for hours reading it), so reading these to the boys is a treat to myself as well.
• the Fudge books, by Judy Blume. I was introduced to Fudge Hatcher in the 4th grade; my teacher, Mrs. Simon, made a habit of reading aloud to us. (That may be part of the reason I loved her so much.) Check them out: Superfudge, Double Fudge, and of course, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.
• Junie B. Jones books. I know a lot of parents aren't crazy about Junie B. They don't like the way she talks and think she sets a bad example for their children. But I just find Junie B. fun. These books are simply FUN to read aloud, and even though Junie B. is a girl, she's spunky enough to appeal to most boy readers.
• Magic Tree House books. Jack and Annie, a brother and sister pair, travel to all kinds of different lands and times in these adventurous books. A great way to sneak in a little learning! (Be sure to check out the website for a lot of fun learning activities.)

Here's another list of some novels boys might like. I read the first one here, and while I liked it a lot, take note that it's got some mature themes and language; most appropriate for older teen boys.

What are some of your boys' favorite novels?