Writing Books for Boys

When I first set out to write I didn’t think in terms of what boys want to read versus girls interests. I simply wanted to fictionalize and bring to life some fond memories of my summers spent at sleep-away camp in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. What I soon realized is that the memories I had and the anecdotes and adventures I was reliving on the written page were those of a boy–namely, my twelve year-old self. I wanted to get on paper (laptop screen) the sports games, the overnights sleeping under the stars, the late night raids into girls’ camp, searching for salamanders after a heavy summer rain, swimming out on the lake, canoe trips, that sort of thing.

I soon learned from some of my readers that the stuff that was of interest to me as a young boy nearly 40 years ago is still today of interest to my young male readers. It is not so much that my books are targeting an audience of just boys–its just that I’ve managed to put together tales that keep the boys reading. In this day and age of TV, internet, video games and a ton of other distractions, if my books manage to keep boys (and hopefully a few girls) reading and flipping the pages then I feel like I succeeded and that in itself is its own reward.