What I’ve Been Reading: Guys Read

For a long time I’ve been convinced that both readers and writers are badly served by the fact that children’s lit is such a female-dominated industry. (And so heavily white, too, but more about that later.) Yes, there are some great male editors, but not too many. Librarians? Teachers? Also skewed toward the female. That has to have an effect on what books get read, published, given awards, and handed to kids.

So this series seems like a solid idea. I was a bit disappointed at first glance, however. The stories seemed so boyish as to be stereotypic. (What do boys like? Fart jokes! All boys! All the time!) It was redeemed for me, however, by David Yoo’s quirky and deeply unsettling “A Fistful of Feathers.” Nice to see that there is more than one way of being a boy. Plus I won’t be enjoying a turkey sandwich for quite some time.