The Factory's A-rockin'

Last week, I was prepping for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in New York. I left early Friday morning and returned late Sunday night. As always, I return humbled by the work others are doing in the arena of young people's literature and feel spurred to do more. Sorry I didn't have time to post, but I'm back.

A few days before I left, I was called out by my friend Laura's 16-year-old son, Jared, for trying to overcomplicate a project to encourage boys to read. This is the secret project I mentioned in my first post. I'm very excited because Jared knows just what to do with the idea and how to get it done without spending the massive amounts of money and ridiculous amount of planning time that I was trying to shove into a small, compact shell of an idea. Jared also is a student at a magnet school in the Minneapolis area and needs a project to work on, so he's the factory supervisor. He and a friend of his are working on the project and I expect to see some interesting progress later this week. More to come. Sorry I can't tell you what it is yet, but I know it'll be huge when we roll it out. I just don't want to blow the horn before it's ready for testing and release.

In other news, I got a comment from Amy at the Hennepin County Library (the county that Minneapolis is in). She says to contact her if I'm interested in being a Guys Read facilitator this summer at the library, which of course I am. I'll be emailing her tomorrow for further info and hope to have an update for you next week.

In the meantime, keep reading, keep looking for books boys WANT to read (not what we think they SHOULD read). You're the gatekeepers -- make it a wide gate.