Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit - NCAAL 2013

I spoke at the 8th National Conference of African American Librarians on August 8, 2013. The topic was Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit. [Click here to read the YALSA Hub post about the conference] At one point we had a discussion on the role of non-fiction. One librarian spoke of a young man who only wanted to read about cars. Not fiction about cars or anything else. There was not a lot of time to talk about this issue during the 45 minute session, but I have some additional thoughts here.

First, reading non-fiction, manuals and magazines is reading and all reading will help with vocabulary growth, reading speed and comprehension. The Common Core empahsizes non-fiction for a reason.

However, fiction gives something non-fiction cannot. The right story in the right hands at the right time gives readers the feeling that someone understands them, that they are not alone. 
Here are some ideas that might help that young man, and others, take a second look at reading in general and fiction in particular.

1. Short stories - quick reads that can help the reader regain a feeling of enjoyment in reading and a sense of mastery by finishing something quickly and easy.
2. Books in verse. With most, readers can open it to almost any page and find a new verse, each of which can be considered it's own story about his relationships with parents and peers.
   
3. Audio books. Listening can be a stepping stone. Hearing a story read can help kids return back to the younger days when they loved the idea of a story. Listening to stories read aloud is not just for preschoolers. I love my audio books!
4. Better still, solicit male volunteers, teachers, staff, parents, community members, to read aloud to kids. A surprising number will say yes. With only ten you have a reader/role model each month. Help the boys see that reading is too a masculine activity, not something just for girls.  
5. Poetry slams. I have found many boys interested in their own poetry/lyrics, and those of peers. I recently judged a poetry contest and gave a workshop on the use of  free verse to high school students. One young man in the workshop only because the teacher had the entire class come in perked up as he listened. By the end he came up to me as other students were filing out and told me he understood one of the poems. He also  said that while he hadn't entered the poetry contest this year, he was already planning for next year.
6. Give them a book of their own, to keep. Kids who own a book are more likely to read it.
7. Have them write, whatever they want, their own stories, or song lyrics, or instruction manuals. 
8. My daughter's school not only had the kids write, they had the results bound and put int he school library for anyone to check out.
9. Most of all, learn about the kid's issues, interests, problems and recommend a book to him or her that matches them.

"That's my life in that book." I have heard teen readers say that. When they see themselves, and their friends and family, they see the world, develop empathy, and come back for more.

These are my ideas. If you have any more, please add a comment and share them with others.

ALA 2013 - Attracting Reluctant Readers

I am now the author of two YA novels, one of which was a YALSA 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list, and was on the School Library Journal list of best books for youth in detention in 2011. Being noted by on those two lists made my proud, because one of my goals in writing was to reach out and try to turn around the so-called reluctant reader and remind them of the joys of reading. I knew I had made it when a teacher told me a reluctant reader not only finished Pull in record time, but asked for another one just like it.

Since 2011, I have met with teachers and librarians and discussed ways to reach out to reluctant readers at a number of venues, including individual libraries, the Illinois Reading Council, Indiana Library Federation, and Ohio Educational Library Media Association. I was overjoyed last fall when my proposal for a presentation on the subject was accepted for ALA 2013. Last Saturday, June 29, was d-day (delivery day)

I recruited another author, Jim Klise, teacher, school librarian, and book club leader at a Chicago charter school, to join me for the presentation, Jim Klise. Jim is the author of Love Drugged, a story about a gay teen who thinks a drug can make him "straight" and therefore acceptable at school. Together, Jim and I represented public and school libraries, and populations (gay and teens of color) that are traditionally under served. Jim talked about the boys in his school, and how many of them enjoyed reading, including one who admitted to enjoying romances as long as the other boys didn't know. He confessed to being one of those boy eager readers as a child, and the family's trips to the library to bring home stacks of books are some of his fondest memories.

We had a room filled with both school and public librarians; a standing-room-only crowd that extended into the hallway, proving how much libraries and librarians care about pairing books and kids.


Being the science type, I began by handing out data on the problem. I entitled my piece of the presentation, Why Johnny, Jaime, Jose and sometime even Jane won't read (because there are girl reluctant readers too, just as there are boys who are eager readers.) Although both boys and girls are read to by their parents, during the early school years, the "learning to read" stage, boys begin falling behind in the amount of time spent reading for fun, and the very idea that reading might be "fun." Some of this is due to different children maturing and learning at different speeds. Another reason is that some of the reading material available may not interest some kids. The result can be two self-fulfilling prophecies. First that a number of kids learn to view themselves as non-readers - and all too frequently those as males. Second, that publishers think boys don't read books, and therefore concentrate all their efforts on "girl books."

The remainder of my presentation focused on strategies librarians can use to attract reluctant readers, including arranging shelves and displays that make books guys like (mystery, science fiction, non-fiction) easier to find, book trailer projects and other uses of technology, and recruiting male staff and community members to show that they read too to make reading seem like a masculine activity. Even the most reluctant reader might be pulled in by a "Don't Get Mad, Get Even" book display.


I handed out a list of suggested books for reluctant readers (the list and more information can be found at my website, and highlighted a few, including science fiction like The Rookie (football set hundreds of year in the future), Acceleration, a classic YA mystery, Lexapros and Cons, a humorous look inside the mind of a kid with OCD, and War Brothers, a graphic novel about children kidnapped and forced to become soldiers. I also talked about books with girls as protagonists including Pinned a story about the only female wrestler in her school, and Yaqui Delgado is Going To Kick Your Ass, (just the title alone would suck in any kid male or female) about a girl being bullied by another girl, but that will suck in both boys and girls who know how dangerous and friendless high school can be.

Jim provided some statistics from a survey of the boys and girls at his school about the kinds of books both genders like, and how they chose new books. His strategies for librarians include making sure they buy books for ALL patrons of all demographics. He noted that at his school he has kids from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and sexual orientations. He makes sure to have books with protagonists from as many areas as possible. He reminded librarians to expose the kids to different options. And to give the kids books they can keep, books they feel are theirs. He found that a key to getting kids to both read and retain what they read.

Comments and questions from the attendees included a desire for more books with gay characters of color, and a wish that publishers would understand they need to feature other groups in their books.

Attracting Reluctant Male Readers @ ALA 2013

I'M PRESENTING!!

This Saturday at 1:00 pm, I will be making a presentation to the American Library Association in Chicago on Attracting Reluctant Male Readers. Normally I don't start gathering butterflies in my stomach until the day before a presentation. But then I made the mistake of looking and saw that almost five hundred people had indicated a desire to attend my program. Now I have three days of feeling like I want to vomit.

I have spoken on this subject many times in multiple venues over the last few years, including at the Illinois Reading Council, the Ohio Educational Library Media Association, and the Indiana Library Federation, and a number of libraries across the Midwest. This time I am part of the YALSA at the ALA group of session.  I will be discussing the problem of Reluctant Readers, giving program and activity recommendations to change them into eager readers, and recommending a number of YA books geared at attracting those guys who think they don't like reading.

I also recruited a male author and school librarian to work with me. he will be giving a number of first hand tactics that have worked with the boys in his school. maybe if I sink into a puddle of goo at the sight of hundreds of faces he will be able to hang on.  Seriously, my biggest audience so far has been about a hundred people.

Once I finish on Saturday I will be putting a copy of the recommended books and my presentation on my website.  If you are a librarian and attend ALA, stop by the convention center in room 106b Saturday at 1. There will be door prizes (copies of Pull, Being God and/or Die Trying)

I promise not to faint. Not even if you turn out to be the five hundred and first person in the room.

Countdown to Being God

Backcover blurb for Being God:

My first blow is an uppercut. A crack sounds in the cold air, the impact shivering up my arm as his head snaps back. I bend, move in close, and get in a second blow. He stumbles and steps backward.

I’ve boxed before, in a ring, facing trained fighters. I start to relax. I’ll put this dude down in no time. With Barney as a witness, this fight will provide a major boost to my rep.

Then Deadlocks pulls a knife.

The knife changes everything.

This isn’t a fight anymore. It’s combat, and only one side has a weapon.

Dreadlocks is out to kill.

Screw pride, screw anger, screw everything except survival. I grab Barney’s hand and yank her to her feet. We start to run, but she’s limping. I don’t have to turn to know how fast he’s closing on us. We get maybe four steps and she falls.

Time slows.

Two choices flash through my head. Leave the girl and run like hell. Or turn to face him, knowing there will be blood.

Most of it mine.

Being God, copyright© 2013 by B. A. Binns

Being God is the sequel to the award-winning Pull published in 2010. The book becomes available in paperback and eBook on Feb 1, 2013, and I can barely keep from nibbling my fingers to the knuckles. As hard as it is to change a bad guy in real life, I think it's even harder to do it in fiction. I was supposed to control the pages, but this character frequently seized control and made things happen his way.

 

But now it's over. There is nothing to change, nothing more to do except flip the switch and make things live on Thursday night. Which leaves me antsy. Luckily, I do have a few things I'm supposed to be doing.

• Like prepping for a workshop on diversity in YA literature I have been asked to give at the Virginia Hamilton conference at Kent State University in April. (I know that sounds like a lot of time, but I know from past experience deadlines come sooner than I expect them to)
• Sprucing up the series of lectures I will be giving for the Man Talk online class I start teaching  next week (gulp!)
• Prepare for the initial session of a library sponsored writing workshop I begin leading in two weeks. (Did I really say yes?)
• Start working on the speech I will be giving at the summer ALA meeting as part of YALSA at the ALA on ways to reach reluctant male readers (I actually asked to make this speech)

 

Oh yes, I also have to work on the next book.

 

Give-aways

In the meantime, I am giving away copies of Being God. The name my dog contest runs until Feb 1, when a winner and name will be chosen. Leave me a comment with a name, that's your entry fee.  I am also planning to give away books at the Chicago Principals conference on Feb 7, and to hand out books at my old high school, Hyde Park.  I have been asked to judge the entries submitted during the Poplar Creek teen holiday writing contest, and I will give everyone who entered a copy of Being God.

 

I am also sending copies of all three of my books to the Denney Juvenile Detention Center school in Washington. There my books will help many reluctant and at-risk kids. I would like to do more. I hope to donate books to at least four other facilities. So if you know of any deserving juvenile facilities, youth centers, alternative schools, or other groups that help needy kids who could use additions to their libraries, let me know. I would like to chose some to make donations to.

 

Coretta Scott King Book Awards Donation Grant

There isn't much time left, applications for this grant must be sent in by January 31, 2013.

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Donation Grant is designed to help bring books into the lives of children in need, whether they are latchkey, preschool programs, faith-based reading projects, and homeless shelters. The committee's Public Awareness Campaign notes that books and reading add value to children's lives. 

 Every year, in the process of choosing the Coretta Scott King Book Award winners and honor books, the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) of the American Library Association receives multiple copies of approximately 100 titles by African American authors and illustrators, including a full set of the year's winning and honor titles. The Awards Committee believes children lives should be saturated with books and reading opportunities. and the Book Donation Grant is designed to help address that objective.  The books submitted to the prior year's Coretta Scott King book award are made available through these grants. These books may go to nontraditional institutions that provide both educational and custodial services to children and their families and to under-funded libraries.

Applications must be received by January 31, 2013.

For additional information and application instructions, visit, www.ala.org/emiert/cskbookawards/bookgrant.

Pull was named a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers at the 2012 ALA Mid-winter meeting.
It was also named by School Library Journal as one of 2011's Top Ten Picks For Youth In Detention.

Yes Boys Do Read

Advertisers will tell you, it's always easier and more cost effective to keep an existing customer than to go out and find a new one, or try recapturing a lost one. So it is with readers.

No, I'm not talking about my readers (well, yes I am, but only as a tangent)  I'm talking about so-called reluctant readers.

I've visited a number of schools, and have personal experience with the recognized phenomena of boys falling behind female readers as they move through elementary school. In all too many cases the boys declare themselves Non-Readers, and shut down. On Oct 13 I will be talking to educators and librarians in Columbus Ohio, speaking at the Ohio Educational Library Media Association conference on this subject. Because we don't want to keep loosing readers.

PULL Wins the National Reader's Choice Award - part 2

PULL's 2010 Reader's Choice award for it's first place in Young Adult books arrived in the mail today. I understand why it is affectionately known as a tombstone.  Since I could not be in both New York for the RWA conference where the award was given, and in beautiful, if muggy, New Orleans for ALA and a booksigning, my Chicago North RWA chaptermate Jennie Carney stepped in to pick up the prize and attend the Champagne breakfast I missed. 

Jennie mailed the tombstone to me and the package arrived today. My fumbling hands undid the tape so I could find my prize.

Here I am, tombstone in hand

Now my friends here at the library where I volunteer are oohing and aahing and doing the happy dance with me

Just holding the thing is inspiring me to finally finish the darned sequel, which has gone through so many metamorphoses I don't know how to handle it. (The title along has changed from B.A.M.F. - if you're a teen you know what those initial stand for - to Being God. Go figure)


Tomorrow I head off to a weekend writing retreat hosted by the Illinois SCBWI in a resort by Lake Springfield.  Here's hoping the atmosphere will bring that story to a close.

P. S.  I missed the RWA champagne, but not the beer and fun at ALA. Here are some of the pictures from the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) get-together and bourbon street.



The fountain caught fire during the YALSA reception



Bourbon street - no, it's not Mardi Gras time so I could actually move

And of course, I have pictures of my friends and fans.


A fan



More fans



And friends