Guys Read is a web-based literacy program for boys founded by author Jon Scieszka in 2001. Its mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers" by bringing attention to the issue, promoting the expansion of what is called "reading" to include materials like comic books, and encouraging grown men to be literacy role models.
Scieszka said, "It kind of came out of my experience both as growing up a guy, for starters, and then going into elementary school teaching, where I found that the guy sensibility isn't really appreciated there, mostly that the world of elementary school is probably like 85% women - teachers and librarians." As for how exactly to motivate boys to read, Scieszka said, "I think the best way to do it is to give them things they like to read... What we haven't done with boys is we haven't really given them a broad range of reading. In schools, what's seen as reading is so narrow: it's literary, realistic fiction." [1]
The Guys Read website includes a large list of "books that guys read", instructions as to how to start a Guys Read "field office" (or book club), a blog, and links to many boy-loved authors' websites. [2]
Guys Write for Guys Read , the first book to come out of the program, is a compilation that features over eighty stories and illustrations from noted male authors and illustrators who shared stories from their own childhoods.
In 2010, Scieszka started the Guys Read Library of Great Reading – collections of original short stories by male and female authors who boys enjoy reading, grouped by genre. The first volume is humor, Guys Read: Funny Business; the second is mystery, Guys Read: Thriller; the third is sports, Guys Read: The Sports Pages. The fourth volume in the collection is sci-fi/fantasy, titled Guys Read: Other Worlds. The fifth volume's theme is nonfiction, titled Guys Read: True Stories. A sixth volume, whose theme is horror, titled Guys Read: Terrifying Tales, was released on September 1, 2015. This was followed by another volume called Guys Read: Heroes and Villains, in April 2017.
Guys Read field offices are reading clubs held in homes, classrooms, libraries and bookstores. They are located in 28 U.S. States, as well as Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia. [10]
David Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. is an American cartoonist, author, and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series, Captain Underpants, and its spin-off children's graphic novel series Dog Man, the latter published under the respective writer and illustrator pen names of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are also the names of the two protagonists of the Captain Underpants series.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Among all the author's books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. It was the first of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published, but is marked as volume two in recent editions that are sequenced according the stories' internal chronology. Like the other Chronicles, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British-American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is headquartered in New York City and London and is a subsidiary of News Corp.
Brian David Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes. Among his adaptations is the 1981 version of The Lord of the Rings for radio. A columnist and author, he is widely known as the author of many film "making of" books, including those for the Harry Potter series, and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Charlotte's Web is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. It was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages in her web praising Wilbur, such as "Some Pig", "Terrific", "Radiant", and "Humble", to persuade the farmer to let him live.
Jon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for his picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."
Walden Media, LLC or Walden Media is an American independent studio that develops, produces and finances feature films and television series for the U.S. and global markets. Its films focus on stories of courage drawn from biographies, historical events, and literature adaptations, as well as original screenplays. The company has also produced feature documentaries.
Lane Smith is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He is the Kate Greenaway medalist (2017) known for his eclectic visuals and subject matter, both humorous and earnest, such as the contemplative Grandpa Green, which received a Caldecott Honor in 2012, and the outlandish Stinky Cheese Man, which received a Caldecott Honor in 1992.
Steven Soenksen, better known under his pen name Gris Grimly, is an American illustrator and author who mostly writes darkly whimsical children's books. Originally from Nebraska, he spent many years living and working in the Los Angeles area.
Walter Dean Myers was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem, New York City. A tough childhood led him to writing and his school teachers would encourage him in this habit as a way to express himself. He wrote more than one hundred books including picture books and nonfiction. He won the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American authors five times. His 1988 novel Fallen Angels is one of the books most frequently challenged in the U.S. because of its adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War.
The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead is a novel by William S. Burroughs. It was first published in 1971 by Grove Press. It depicts a homosexual youth movement whose objective is the downfall of western civilization, set in an apocalyptic late twentieth century.
Marilyn Singer is an author of children's books in a wide variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction picture books, juvenile novels and mysteries, young adult fantasies, and poetry. Some of her poems are written as reverso poems.
Kino's Storytime, also known as Storytime, is an American children's reading television program which aired on PBS from October 12, 1992 until September 1, 1997. It was produced by KCET in Los Angeles, California. It was available on VHS from Strand Home Video and Video Treasures. It was co-hosted by Anne Betancourt as Lucy, Marabina Jaimes as Mara, and Kino, voiced and performed by puppeteer Mark Ritts.
Chris Lynch is an American writer of books for young people. His works include Inexcusable, a finalist for the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and Iceman,"The Right Fight", Shadow Boxer, Gold Dust, and Slot Machine, all ALA Best Books for Young Adults; Freewill was also a runner-up for the Michael L. Printz Award. Some of his works are intended for a high school level audience; some for children and younger teenagers.
Mac Barnett is an American writer of children's books living in Oakland, California. He was born in Castro Valley, California but grew up in Castro Valley and Oakland.
Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story is the first memoir by American musician Brian Wilson, written with celebrity journalist Todd Gold and published by HarperCollins in 1991. The book was heavily criticized for the implausibility of Wilson being its actual author, and it inspired multiple defamation lawsuits from his family members and associates.
Claire Legrand is an American writer of children's and young adult literature, including novels and short stories. She is best known for her New York Times bestsellingEmpirium trilogy, published by Sourcebooks Fire.
Francis X. "Chip" Flaherty, Jr. is an American film producer, publisher and executive at SkyPath Media, a multimedia company producing The Lesson, a lifestyle brand of video programming.