good clean fun: book event: the why chromosome

Monday, November 07, 2011

book event: the why chromosome

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting. they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development. they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!