Monday, February 15, 2010

"One of the best books that kids actually want to read"

Read Kiddo Read is a fairly new site designed by blockbuster author James Patterson as a tool for parents, teachers, and any other adult who wants to excite kids about reading.








There are, luckily, plenty of other sites with the same goal. They tend to be run by children’s authors and educators, particularly librarians.


What I find especially notable about Read Kiddo Read is that Patterson, of course, writes for adults. It's the only such site I’ve come across that is done in the name of someone who is best known for adult books but who is also focused on hooking them young.

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman is included in its “Great Transitional Book” category (ages 6 and up). The kind Caroline Henley interviewed me about Boys of Steel (describing it ever so kindly as quoted in the title of this post) and Vanished: True Stories of the Missing.

I liked her questions. Some enabled me to get into certain aspects of both books I haven’t commented on publicly before. The site posted both the audio file and a transcription. Thanks Caroline and thanks James!

2 comments:

Richard said...

As a great fan of Nelson Bridwell, I was especially pleased by you recommending the collected editions of his Super Friends comics as an example of what one might call "entry level" Superman comics. (And I feel very safe in saying, without fear of contradiction, that Nelson would have been very pleased by your work as well!) But there may be a bit of confusion on the horizon, in that DC currently publishes a completely different book called DC Super Friends:

http://comics.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Friends

From what I've seen of this comic, it would also be an excellent choice for readers of Boys of Steel wishing to sample super-hero comics…so even if it wasn't the one you were referring to, you won't have steered anyone wrong if they pick this up.

The current DC Super Friends replaced a book called Justice League Adventures, based on the most recent animated version. Also, about a decade back, Superman Adventures had a fairly long run:

http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/superman/guides/comic/

The first six issues written by Scott McCloud were collected in a TPB, and there are digest collections as well.

Yeesh...DC still makes it WAY too hard to figure out which books are good entry level titles, and then it doesn't make them easy to find on the shelves.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Thanks for the kind word, RAB, and yes, I did mean the original 1970s "Super Friends" material, which I find more engaging than the current series using that name.